


Tricked Trickster

by ShinigamiOO



Category: Itsuwaribito Utsuho
Genre: Bandits & Outlaws, F/M, Gen, Hot Springs & Onsen, Lies, Pets, Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-16 13:31:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 42,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1349143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinigamiOO/pseuds/ShinigamiOO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neya's crush on our favorite itsuwaribito looked like it was going nowhere, but she was the only one to trick him successfully before, so she could definitely pull something off to fix that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1. Utsuho - Hot Springs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utsuho is feeling down and a trip to the hot springs may just help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good day to everyone! I honestly did not expect to be coming back to writing fan fiction for anything other than a sequel maybe to my other story. However, I find the Itsuwaribito Utsuho fandom to be severely lacking despite its recent popularity. That is why I decided to come up with my own UtsuhoxNeya story.
> 
> Pairings: UtsuhoxNeya, some HikaexIwashi if I can.  
> Genre: Romance  
> Rating: M  
> Spoilers/Setting: Spoilers up to chapter 117 or so. Takes place after they go to the Village of Lies and, presumably, get the final kokonotsu treasure (though I have no clue if it's there or not, but that's how it'll be in this story).  
> Notes: I do not own Itsuwaribito Utsuho, its characters, or plot because that all belongs to Yuuki Iinuma. Feel free to torch flame this story as much as you'd like, and I'll grab the marshmallows.

**Chapter 1. Utsuho — Hot Springs**

 

That feeling Utsuho had been left with was so steeply painful, he could not find the word to perfectly describe it. Empty. Alone. Lacking. Void. Incomplete. Ah, yes, incomplete was what he currently felt.

 

If Utsuho had ever read Shakespeare (had he not been Japanese and on the other side of the world) he would have wholeheartedly agreed with the line "Parting is such sweet sorrow." However, the "sweet" was not cutting it. It was bitter, bitter like poison. Leaving Pochi behind in the Village of Tanuki with that good-for-nothing-brat-with-a-stuck-up-attitude fiancé was one of the hardest decisions Utsuho had had to make in his life.

 

But what was he to do? Forever keep Pochi from the village and family that the mother had left behind? Just how much danger had Utsuho already placed on Pochi in the search for the kokonotsu treasures? As much as he acknowledged (believed, insisted, forced the tanuki to accept) that he was Pochi's family, he also had to think about Pochi's best interests.

 

A kicked rock tumbled along the dirt path the (now) eight of them were taking. Hikae kicked up a few more pebbles, a pout on his face as he refused to talk to Utsuho. There had been some disagreement between the two when the decision to leave their tanuki-child in the village arose. Of course, Hikae was a steadfast vote for taking Pochi along, or simply staying in the village without them and serve as a protector. Needless to say, Neya and Iwashi talked him out of it. Now all he had left was sulking. Oh well, he will cheer up by the time they run into the next leg of their journey.

 

Utsuho stared at his travel companions. Aside from Hikae's bad mood, the others were quiet, trying not to look at him in pity…Well, Uzume the Bird Brain still blatantly stared with tears in the corners of his eyes.

 

It was kind of funny, though, now that he thought about it—when he first set off on his journey to save a thousand people with his lies, he quickly met Pochi, his first companion and family, and things stayed like that for a while before more people joined them. 

 

First Yakuma, that annoying preachy doctor, then Nee-chan, an incompetent itsuwaribito (no, she did NOT trick him the first time they met!); Hikae came after that in all his dangerous immortal glory while always trying to get Pochi's attention, and a long time afterward Iwashi joined up with the expectation that Utsuho would be her husband eventually. 

 

Pfft! Like he can be a husband when he needed to save a thousand people or more. 

 

Finally, there was Chouza, Bird Brain, and that kid Nee-chan hangs all over, Minamo.

 

Each person came to him and Pochi, now Pochi was gone, and they were all still there with him. That miserable feeling of incompleteness hit again as he though about it, and along with it came a deep, weary sigh.

 

"Don't worry, Pochi will surely be happy there, Utsuho-san," said Yakuma.

 

In his depression, Utsuho could only jump-kick Yakuma with half his usual enthusiasm.

 

Nee-chan turned around from where she was walking ahead of him to glare at his continuous poor treatment of Yakuma. No, he did not have the luck that with everything that had happened she would forget about him _accidentally_ pushing Yakuma over a cliff. That's how far his poor mood bought him in leniency: silence. As long as she did not lecture him again.

 

A few hours later of wandering back out of the mountain forest, the group came upon Hihi-baa's hot spring inn a second time. They greeted the old monkey-like woman, who was surprised to see them all there and alive (without Pochi, Utsuho dully noted). By then, the others were eager to get into the hot springs and ease their aching muscles.

 

"Ah, hot rings! Gotta love 'em!" said Bird Brain.

 

"Hot _springs_ ," corrected the long-banged nanny, Chouza. "But I agree with you on that," he added while stripping his clothes and folding them into the cubby.

 

"What about your bangs, what are you going to do with them?" asked Yakuma as he, too, stripped of his haori* and kimono.

 

"I'm all prepared this time—brought a towel to cover my face this time."

 

"Haha, Chouza! You'll just run into things like that!" said Bird Brain.

 

"I'll be sitting down most of the time, idiot."

 

The two criminals kept jabbering back and forth, splashing a bucket of water over their bodies before entering the steaming waters. Hikae did likewise, no longer sulking as much as before.

 

"You okay, Utsuho-san?" Yakuma asked the quiet itsuwaribito.

 

"Perfectly fine, Mom, so stop being such a NAG!" said Utsuho, pronouncing the final word with a flying kick to the gut that sent the doctor flying into the water. He then leisurely settled himself into the water opposite of Yakuma with a taunting grin on his face.

 

"UTSUHO-SAN!"

 

"It's Nee-chan!" blushed Bird Brain in joy, ignoring the warning to the other white-haired boy. "She's on the other side this time…in only a towel!"

 

"Please do go over there, Bird Brain," insisted Utsuho. "Then she'll stop lecturing me and will yell at you."

 

"No, Utsuho-san, don't encourage him—" Yakuma scrambled to say, nervous at the thought of someone peeking in on Neya-san and invoking her wrath.

 

"Getting yelled at is totally mirth it if I get to see Nee-chan naked!"

 

"That's 'worth it' and are you sure, Uzume?" questioned Chouza.

 

Uzume was already working his way up the fence blushing all the way. It was only then that Utsuho felt an inkling of regret for suggesting the muscle-brained idiot to peek at Nee-chan. Sure, Bird Brain saw an Iwashi with a towel last time, but that more cover than what she wore on a daily basis in Utsuho's opinion. But Nee-chan…

 

"KYAAA!!"

 

_Splash!_

 

BONK!

 

………

 

Uzume was lying unconscious on the stone ground of the hot spring, a vicious bump where the wooden bucket connected to his head. Utsuho's thought at that moment was:

 

_'Well damn, now I need to go get a new bucket.'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out, italicized sentences are presumed to be thoughts. There's really no set length to any of these chapters, so some of them will be short like this, and others will be much longer. I hope I portrayed everyone in-character, because OOC is really annoying unless if it is really, really AU.
> 
> Also, a haori is like an overcoat that generally hangs loosely over the kimono. Yakuma wears a dark one with his sun design on the back, and another big example are the white cloaks the 13 Court Squad Captains in Bleach wear.


	2. Neya - Hot Springs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the boys horse around, Neya and the girls are having their own discussion while soaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Like Utsuho has his own notations, so does Neya:
> 
> Utsuho: Thinking - "Utsuho" Speaking - "Utsuho-san"  
> Yakuma: Thinking - "Yakuma" Speaking - "Yakuma-san"  
> Hikae: Thinking - "Hikae" Speaking - "Nibyo-san"  
> Iwashi: Thinking - "Iwashi" Speaking - "Hime-sama"  
> Uzume: Thinking - "Uzume" Speaking - "Uzume-san"  
> Chouza: Thinking - "Chouza" Speaking - "Chouza-san"  
> Minamo: Thinking - "Minamo" Speaking - "Minamo-chan"
> 
> Essentially, I made her thoughts much simpler, because she is simply being formal when speaking, so in thinking she simply drops the honorifics. Some of the other characters have nicknames for each other, particularly Iwashi, but I'm sure that everyone can figure them. If there are any complex ones, I'll mention them.
> 
> If you have any frustrations in life, go ahead and direct them into your critique.
> 
> On to the story!

The tension left behind from leaving Pochi at the tanuki village nearly did it for Neya. She had loved Pochi as a little sister (at least she thought of Pochi as a girl, not that the mystery was ever solved), and had had to hold back her tears when they were saying goodbye.

 

Then there was Utsuho! He was not the type of guy to cry, she just knew, but it was undoubtedly heartbreaking for him to let go. With him tromping along behind her, she could practically feel his depression weighing down on her back.

 

"Don't worry, Pochi will surely be happy there, Utsuho," said Yakuma.

 

Neya flinched at his poor word choice of comfort, and fully expected Utsuho to retaliate like an angry child by kicking the doctor, albeit less harshly than usual.

 

That did not mean she was going to let him get away with it, _especially_ after he pushed Yakuma off a cliff.

 

She mustered her angriest glare, which was easy given she was in an overall bad mood, and about-faced to scowl at Utsuho. It felt so much better to be angry than it did to be depressed.

 

Utsuho ducked his head down to stare at the side of the path with his squinted fox-eyes. And lucky for her, the pout gracing his face made the usually handsome, mischievous Utsuho look absolutely, endearingly adorable, causing Neya to blush in the process. Before she could be found out, Neya spun back around to face the road, ashamed that she was admiring Utsuho at this kind of time.

 

The rest of the trip to Hihi-baa's hot spring inn was just as quiet as the first part.

 

She had to admit, though, that she could not wait to soak in the hot, steamy water of the hot springs. Last time they came, Neya had to stay outside and wash Pochi so she wouldn't drown. Not that she begrudged the tanuki this, she simply wished to enjoy the pleasure of soaking as well.

 

"Hot springs are truly fitting for taking care of my skin," Iwashi said as she removed her few scarves and draped a towel around her curvaceous figure.

 

"Minamo wishes she could go in as well," said the blue-eyed child.

 

"That kimono is really helpful most of the time, but I suppose in cases like these, it works against you, huh, Minamo-chan?" said Neya, feeling for the girl. "We didn't have them back on Nadeshiko Island," she added, recalling the harsh environment on the former kill-or-be-killed island. _'I wonder if everyone is doing well there now that the serious criminals are gone.'_

 

"Aran?" said Iwashi, as though remembering something. "What exactly was Nadeshiko Island like? Nee-yan has never brought it up before."

 

"Hmmm…I would say it is beautiful at first glance. The forests and beaches were lovely, as was the view looking out over the sea, but…" Neya paused, recalling the suffocating desperation to get off the prison-like island, filled with murderers and surrounded by unforgiving currents trapping them on all sides. There had been nights when she had first gotten on the island with the old woman that she could not sleep because she felt so trapped—only on the nights she did not mourn for Onihime, at least.

 

Things had certainly improved when she had gathered children and the more innocent criminals to form a village, so in a way, they had saved here as much as she had saved them. Then Utsuho came to Nadeshiko Island, and just as quickly went, dragging her with him…

 

"—NAG!" came the shot from the boys' side, undoubtedly Utsuho, followed by a splash that was likely him hitting Yakuma the second time that day.

 

Immediately plunged into her foul mood toward him, she yelled "UTSUHO-SAN!" in warning.

 

Iwashi peered at Neya in a laid-back form of appraisal. "How do you manage Utsuho-sama, I wonder?"

 

Neya blushed, suddenly feeling like the bossy older sister, so she focused more on getting undressed and into the water while looking away from the beautiful princess.

 

"I suppose because we've known each other for a while, and I've handled naughty children often, I naturally do it."

 

"Oh? So you would say Utsuho-sama is a naughty child? That is not how I believe a girl would see the man she loves," said Iwashi without batting an eye.

 

Always such a straightforward and open woman. And as always, she made Neya blush at the implications.

 

"W-well, what point is there?" fumbled Neya. "I've already told him my feelings, and he _ignored_ me," she said disheartened. "What else can I do but be his family? He won't see me as anything else."

 

By then, Neya was sinking further into the searing water, hoping that the liquid burning sensations on her skin would not only clean off the grime on her skin, but also the cold, sinking despair wracking her heart.

 

"It sounds like you've given up. That's no fun to have a love rival that gives up." The princess sounded thoroughly disappointed.

 

"I—" Neya began, lifting herself up to argue against Iwashi's statement, only to stop short upon spotting Uzume staring down from over the top of the wooden fence.

 

Her first instinct:

 

"KYAAA!!" as she plunged underwater with her hands over her front, then peeked to see Uzume was falling backwards after a resounding BONK!

 

_'Just how much did he see!?'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Just if anyone was wondering, I've already written up to and including chapter 15 of this story. That's why it will be released pretty quickly, though I have my limits on how long I can sit in front of a computer typing.


	3. Utsuho - What You Say, What You See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utsuho, as always, does not always hold back in his words toward his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hmmm…nothing much to say here. Please read, review, and enjoy. All I can think of right now is how much I want to read the rest of Itsuwaribito Utsuho and find out what happens. I accidentally saw some cover pictures for later volumes, and so the suspense is killing me. Pleeeeaaaaassse have them update soon! I'm thinking of joining the group to translate just to read it sooner.

After the bath fiasco, Chouza had dragged Uzume out, dressed him, and brought him back to the guys' room. It wasn't cool that the five of them had to share a room, while the girls only had three people in a room—one of which was a child!

 

Each of them was wearing a yukata, eating some of the snacks Hihi-baa brought. The girls were apparently not going to come discuss their plans for where they were headed after this now that they had eight of the nine treasures.

 

"Ugh…"

 

Utsuho glanced over at Uzume whom was just waking up.

 

"You okay now, Uzume?" Chouza asked.

 

"What happened? One moment I saw Nee-chan in all her beady and then my head really hurt!"

 

"You mean 'beauty'."

 

"Wait!" panicked Yakuma. "Just how much of her did you see!?"

 

Uzume grinned as he reddened, and even Hika was waiting to hear the details.

 

"I saw…" some more blushing and a dreamy look on his face, "her bare shoulders and some of her back!"

 

"Stupid!" Chouza chided, whacking Uzume on the top of the head. "What's so great about seeing her shoulders?"

 

"But Chouza," whined the simpleton, "they looked so smooth and soft and small—" rambled on Uzume, seemingly picturing Nee-chan's shoulders as he grew redder with each moment. It had started to grate a nerve with Utsuho with how… _sensual_ he was making the scene out to be.

 

"Hah!" he interrupted, laughing at Uzume, whom was showing just how much of an innocent pervert he was. "Your head's just in the clouds and desperate for any kind of girl if you think that _Nee-chan's_ all that pretty!"

 

"Oh really?" said a quiet voice behind him.

 

There at the shoji door to their room, Iwashi's hand hovered at the door's notch, holding her fan to her chin, mouth formed into an 'O' in surprise; beside her were Minamo and, of course, Nee-chan.

 

At that point, Utsuho figured she would be yelling at him, but more than anything, Nee-chan appeared to be honestly upset. She looked like she may have wanted to say something, staring at him as she was, yet she simply turned back around and walked away.

 

That was something he had not wanted her to hear, or even take seriously. Did she not at least take into account that he was a liar? After all the verbal (and sometimes physical in Yakuma's case) abuse he put both her and Yakuma through, could she not see through his joke?

 

"I'll go check on her," said Yakuma, hurriedly getting up and pursuing the girl out. He was such a nosy mother-like guy.

 

"Smooth, Utsuho-kun," said Hika, snickering as usual at the trouble that went on around him.

 

"You made Nee-chan upset, Utsuho!" shouted Uzume, jumping up to tower over Utsuho. "Just what d'ya mean mean by that, huh!? She's super pretty!"

 

Chouza put a hand on his partner's shoulder. "Calm down, Uzume. However, Thread Eyes, I do think you need to apologize. I know you seem to have a hard time doing that, but this time might have been the wrong time."

 

"Hmph!" Utsuho said. _'Always apologize for this, apologize for that lately. What's up with that? Uncool.'_

 

Rather than saying anything, Utsuho simply got up and headed out toward the girls' room where he presumed them to be. Unfortunately, they were not there, so he continued out the front of the building and examined the outside surroundings. To his right, he saw a small path going through the light forested area the inn was situated in.

 

Utsuho kept along the path lit by now only by the moon's radiance, his footsteps light and sneaky as was his habit. It was not long that he heard some muttering up ahead of him, which was why he carefully peeked around trees in his approach in order to avoid rudely interrupting their discussion and worsening the situation.

 

He finally caught sight of his two traveling companions at the bank of a small stream, and…

 

Utsuho stiffened where he was standing, observing the scene.

 

Yakuma's back faced him, two of Nee-chan's slim arms wrapped around it clutching at the fabric tightly; Yakuma's arms were also wound tightly around the girl, though for the most part she was blocked by Yakuma's body. The silly, doting doctor's head was bent forward toward that overly-sensitive, kind-of-useless girl-itsuwaribito Neya.

 

She was just hugging him for comfort, for sure, was what Utsuho told himself. Besides, Yakuma had a thing for that unreachable emperor's wife still, so no worries. And why would he even be worried? It was not like he cared what they did in their love lives.

 

But he knew that all of what he was telling himself were lies.

 

After all, he was an itsuwaribito.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: I always feel bad for Yakuma because of his impossible love for Kouhi-sama. Will he ever find love for himself in the main story? I really hope so.


	4. Neya - What You Say, What You See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uzume's peeking and Utsuho's harsh words leave Neya in a hard place, and it is up to Yakuma to comfort her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Like I said before, this will be updated pretty fast. Hopefully, someone will read this far. *Pouts*
> 
> Any and all critiques will be greatly appreciated. I use them as fuel for my ego-tank, and currently it is running pretty low. Any refills?

Neya could not clearly say how much Uzume saw, but she had been embarrassed nonetheless. Iwashi had tried to console her that there was nothing much to Uzume seeing her wrapped in a towel as long as the towel stayed _on._

 

This did little to assuage the shy teenager. Maybe this was a type of maturity that the real princess held from being out of her teen years. Sure, Neya had been the former body-double to an 8-year-old princess hated by her people, but she never had had much close involvement with males there or on Nadeshiko Island. One could only describe her as naive to it all.

 

Honestly, Neya figured they expected her to lecture or start a rampage against Uzume, yet all she wanted to do at the moment was gather her thoughts in the girls' room, Iwashi and Minamo watching and waiting.

 

"All right!" said Neya, standing up with a slap to her face from both hands. "Let's go."

 

As the three drew down closer to the guys' room a few rooms down from their own, they heard the boys talking inside.

 

"They looked so smooth and soft and small—"

 

Soon Neya was mortified. Did he see them!?

 

"Hah!" sounded an incredulous laugh from what sounded like Utsuho, making Neya strain hard to hear. Your head's just in the clouds and desperate for any kind of girl if you think that _Nee-chan's_ all that pretty!"

 

Neya's heart plummeted.

 

Iwashi had decided at that exact moment to let their presence be known by sliding open the shoji.

 

"Oh really?" tumbled out of Neya's mouth, even though she told herself to come up with a more witty remark. Nothing like that came to mind, and coupled with her misery from before, the usually harmless blow landed hard on her conscious mind.

 

In truth, she wanted to say "Sorry I'm not that pretty" or "Guess I'm not much of a girl to you." Neya knew, though, that saying such things would do nothing to help her situation, and would merely make her come off as petty.

 

To save herself from acting rashly, Neya broke eye contact with Utsuho, then turned around to walk out of the inn. She needed fresh air or the tears would start coming out. There at her right was the pathway she had spotted previously in coming to the inn, so she chose to go down it and see where it went. The subtle babbling of running water reached her ears, promising a spot with cold water to rinse her face and eyes—she certainly needed it. Coming up to the stream, Neya knelt down and cupped her hands in the ice water, a stark contrast to the hot spring water.

 

Steps sounded a bit behind her. Quickly, she splashed the freezing water on her face before glancing back as Yakuma came out of the foliage.

 

"Are you okay, Neya?"

 

"Yeah, I was just…overreacting a little." A loud sigh escaped her.

 

"I have to say I was a bit surprised you took his remark so seriously. Usually, you have a more energetic, indemnified response."

 

Should she mention her conversation with Iwashi to Yakuma? He had always been there to support her in her love for Utsuho, even when Iwashi joined the group to pursue _her_ love of the fox-like itsuwaribito.

 

"Iwashi and I were talking in the bath about how I am like family to Utsuho-san. It doesn't feel like I have much of a chance to be any more than that to him."

 

"You just need to keep trying. As it is, you are the closest girl to him," explained Yakuma. "Though it may come across that you aren't going anywhere with Utsuho, you are in fact much closer than anyone else in receiving his affections."

 

"But—" Neya said, her voice cracking as the tears renewed themselves. "I don't see it!"

 

Neya hugged her doctor friend, her hands bunched into his hakama as she began to silently cried into his chest. At that point, she needed some sort of human contact. Yakuma simply wrapped her in his arms, silently assuring her that he was there.

 

"Keep at it," he said, his go-to line when encouraging Neya.

 

If only she could believe that was enough.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Aw, poor Neya. I always felt that she would be kind of down about her love for Utsuho if confronted about it seriously. I have just exaggerated this for a bit more drama.


	5. Utsuho - New Companion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pochi's no longer with the group, which leaves an opening for another friend to join. Utsuho's not impressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Now we're getting a little more into the story, if I recall correctly. Based on the chapter title, it's really Mary Sue-ish, right? Well, let me know how you like this character. And if you want them dead and gone, just say so in a brutally cruel way. I promise I won't cry…

Their group was now headed to Kyoto, the grand capitol of Japan. Now with eight of the nine treasures in their possession, the only one left was the zori*, the Dual Flowers, that that government agent Hiruko Yorushichi grabbed from Utsuryo Island. It would be a good two months to go back by foot.

 

This gave Utsuho a _loooot_ of thinking time. Half the time, though, he was asking himself if there was any point in pondering the recent events. It certainly got his mind off of Pochi whom was now staying with blood family; however, in its place, and uncomfortable uneasiness had begun to worm its way in instead.

 

He had not attempted to talk to Neya since catching her embracing Yakuma, which meant his apology still went unsaid. For the most part, the cherry-blossom-haired girl spoke with Yakuma and Iwashi or fawned over Minamo, then the occasional few times Hika pestered her into responding to his taunts about one thing or another. Utsuho could only assume Chouza had convinced Uzume not to talk to her for awhile after having been the initial cause of everything.

 

And thank goodness for that! He didn't need that Bird Brain instigating her any further.

 

"Man, this is soooo boring without Pochi," complained Hika the fifth time that day.

 

"Nyan-Nyan, do you not find our presence at all amusing?" asked Iwashi. "You are harder to impress than I originally thought."

 

"You have anything fun in mind?"

 

"Eraawrr…"

 

"You had making random sounds in mind?" said Hika.

 

"Aran? That wasn't me. What was that sound just now?" Iwashi said, baffled.

 

"Probably an animal somewhere nearby," Chouza said.

 

Minamo paused in her steps, her gaze growing farther away to the left of the road. "Over there," she pointed.

 

"We should leave it alone," suggested Hika.

 

"It might be something interesting," said Utsuho.

 

Each of them gradually left the road going after Minamo. Her kimono kept her from getting dirty or her clothes ripped, which allowed her to move faster than the more grown and dirt-prone young adults walking behind her. Coming back into sight of the girl, she had already stopped in front of a moaning fox cub. Utsuho scanned the creature as it was laying down, noting how gingerly it held its back right leg.

 

"Aw, poor thing. It's hurt."

 

A couple feet to his side, Nee-chan had spoken out with such concern for the creature. She leaned in closer, her hand outstretched to pet it. It growled a bit, making her hand halt for a few seconds, then continued.

 

"It's very likely been abandoned by its family because of its leg," she said solemnly. "Here, boy," she said, offering her fingers to be smelled. Tentatively, the fox cub sniffed her fingers and swiped its tongue out to taste, and Nee-chan took the incentive to rub its chin and cheeks. The fox relaxed into her unhurried, steady touch as it flopped its tail up and down off the ground. "I want to take care of it."

 

"Hey, hey, is that really a good idea? This is a fox, after all—it might attack us when it gets hungry," reasoned Chouza.

 

"There should be small concern for that," Yakuma assured, "if it will be around humans, it can be trained to not attack them and hunt for its own food."

 

"If you say so."

 

Nee-chan ceased petting the fox, veering hesitant eyes toward Utsuho. "Does that sound reasonable, Utsuho-san?"

 

Kind of shocked that she had finally spoken to him (and practically asking for his permission, no less!) it took him a couple seconds to come up with an appropriate reply.

 

"Do what you want." He started heading back onto the road.

 

Dammit! He hadn't meant to sound so indifferent! He sounded like a douche, and that's uncool. The entire situation was getting really tiring.

 

He waited for the rest of the group to come back. One by one they popped back out, brushing twigs and leaves from their clothes. Nee-chan came up from the rear, the fox bundled in her outer kimono and held in her small arms.

 

"There should be a village half a day's walk from here. If we hurry, we should make it there by nightfall," said Yakuma.

 

"Then let's get this toe on the road!" shouted Uzume.

 

" _Show_ on the road," corrected Chouza.

 

"I guess no stopping for lunch," dramatically sighed Hika, accusingly staring at Neya. "Thanks to Nee-chan's little detour."

 

Neya simply glared back at the immortal.

 

Barely half-an-hour after sunset, the nine of them reached a decently large town due to their quick pace and no breaks. The fox cub had fallen asleep in Neya's arms, its head propped lazily on her forearm.

 

Utsuho would not admit it was cute—it did not come anywhere close to being as cute as Pochi! He just determined it best to ignore the slanted-eyed creature and its owner to focus on what he was doing, such as searching for a place to stay for the night.

 

Unfortunately, the village had a disproportionately large amount of buildings and businesses to the amount of inns. Given the number of likely travelers, merchants mostly, no doubt going through there daily, there should have been more lodgings. As luck would have it, they were crowded into one 8-tatami mat* room.

 

That was close-quarters. The futons laid out for the eight of them lapped over the sides of each other, and the places where their heads would be laying (they had lined them up so it was two rows of four with the heads facing each other and the feet toward the walls) were also stuffed together. Chouza ended up in one corner next to Uzume, who Minamo always slept beside so she took the other side, and then Nee-chan was set up next to Minamo given how she loved to be by the child. Opposite of Nee-chan was Yakuma, then Utsuho who was flanked by Iwashi (she never really minded his personal space, he noticed) and finally Hika at the end across from Chouza. Everyone agreed to stay out and about in town for as long as possible before retiring for the night in order to avoid being squished in for an unnecessarily long period of time.

 

Wandering around town, they found a tea shop with dango, where Utsuho went through stick after stick after stick of dango while chatting with Hika. Utsuho kept inadvertently glancing over at Nee-chan sitting beside Yakuma, both hand-feeding the fox cub some fish they had bought at another store. The two had managed to keep the small fox out of sight from the shop owner; had he not been so awkward with them, he would have called them out and gotten the two in trouble for a good laugh.

 

Not being able to have any fun with his two oldest traveling companions, stuck in this weird limbo, was really inconveniencing his trickster ways. Somehow, he had to convince Nee-chan to put it all behind her so he could go back to hitting Yakuma and teasing her with Hika. He did not have to go out of his way to fix anything with Yakuma because he would always let him get away with things as long as it was just himself getting jerked around.

 

After they were done eating, Hika got up from beside Utsuho and dashed over to the doctor. He did not even break his stride just as he grabbed Yakuma's medicine box, prompting the black-haired man to immediately pursue. Hika ran all around town, to the outskirts, all the way out of sight with Yakuma on his tail. The group exchanged glances at the cat-like man's behavior, but soon shrugged it off as his usual bullying of the doctor.

 

Inevitably, the two came back about ten minutes later, Yakuma sporting a red spot on his face where he was undoubtedly hit.

 

"All right, Utsuho-kun!" cheered Hika. "Let's go back and…" he leaned in closer to whisper, "steal everyone's pillows for ourselves before they get back." An eyebrow waggled on his forehead at Utsuho, enticing him into some mischief.

 

"Sounds fun. Let's do it."

 

Thus the two of them gave the excuse they were tired (even though Hika does not get tired) and headed back to their cramped room. They collected up all the small rectangular pillows and lined them up two-by-two on their own futons, testing out the increased cushioning.

 

The floor outside the room creaked, signaling the arrival of someone before they had even opened the door. Nee-chan and Yakuma walked in on them sprawled out on their futons, carrying the fox bundle in arms. Nee-chan's eyes widened momentarily, prior to ignoring their antics and sitting at her futon. Utsuho attempted to likewise ignore her and Yakuma while they unwrapped the fox cub.

 

"He's looking better, but I am going to check around the area for some herbs I saw near the outskirts of the town. Some of them might help in his recovery," said Yakuma.

 

"Oh, then maybe I should go with you," Nee-chan proposed, preparing to get back up.

 

"No, keep near him for awhile. He needs his rest and he seems to be comforted by being with you."

 

Just as Yakuma began heading out, Hika jumped up, saying, "Hey, Isha-kun*, I wanna come along!"

 

It all became utterly obvious to Utsuho what they were plotting, especially when Hika winked at him over his shoulder.

 

Their way of saying, "Make up with Nee-chan!" apparently.

 

He'd get back at them later for trying to deceive him (which he was _not_ ) despite it being in his best interests, and took the opportunity presented to him.

 

"Have you thought of a name for it yet?" he asked while laying on his back, arms crossed behind his head and counting boards on the ceiling.

 

"E-eh?" Nee-chan said, astonished he broke the silence. "Yeah, I've been thinking about one since I picked him up. My favorite name so far is Nao…what do you think?"

 

Honestly, he thought it was odd to name a fox "honest" given their nature, but he was not going to say that.

 

"Sounds like a good name."

 

A pregnant silence filled the room as the conversation died a quick death, causing Utsuho to internally debate with himself what he should say or if he should even say it.

 

"Would you like to pet him?" Nee-chan asked.

 

"…Sure." He sat up and twisted around toward Nao and Nee-chan, inching in closer, and reached out his hand for Nao to sniff similarly to how Nee-chan did earlier. _Sniff sniff…snort!_ Nao shifted his head away from the proffered hand to nuzzle more into Nee-chan's stomach where the cub was laying across her lap.

 

"Um, I'm sure he'll get to like you eventually," she said, noticing the annoyed twitch in his eye.

 

"Never mind," huffed Utsuho, deciding he did not like the fox. "Sorry."

 

Nee-chan gazed up at him. "Hm?"

 

"About before…" he really did not like apologizing—it meant he was wrong in his actions and she was not making it easy! "When I was talking to Uzume, you know."

 

"Oh! Yeah…um, thanks…" she said, her cheeks reddening. "It was partially my fault for acting up so much. B-but! It was really embarrassing how Uzume-san saw my-my—" her face flamed redder than he had ever seen it before as she struggled to speak.

 

"Your shoulders?" finished Utsuho, baffled that she would be all that bothered about that.

 

"Eh?" she said, her blush receding and simple bewilderment remaining. "S-shoulders? He just saw my shoulders!??"

 

"Yeah. That's what he said he saw and that's it."

 

Nee-chan heaved a huge sigh, her body slouching forward as if a large weight had lifted from her. Nao even had to move off her lap next to her things to avoid being crushed by her leaning forward.

 

Utsuho's eyes drifted down to follow her slouching movement, moving from her bowed head to the back of her bent neck, farther down her single kimono layer where it crossed on her milky smooth chest to the surprisingly more-pronounced-than-he-thought mounds that were faintly exposed by gravity's pull on her kimono…

 

His neck nearly got whiplash with how fast he swiveled it and his thoughts away from such things (or at least he tried to). The shifting of clothes indicated to him that Nee-chan was straightening back up, allowing him to arrange his face into something more normal while he looked at her.

 

"I'm also sorry for everything, Utsuho-san," she said, a relieved smile stretching across her pink lips and a minute tilt of her head showing she was perfectly fine with him once more—as well as showing a more generous view of her slender neck on one side.

 

"No problem!" Utsuho said, his voice forced out so it did not come out even more clipped. There was no reason he should be noticing all these things about Nee-chan! These thoughts were unnecessary and acting to stall his brain. Simply put, it was like throwing wrenches into his clever, scheming mind and halting all processes to one thing.

 

_'Okay, so maybe (definitely) Bird Brain had a point in saying Nee-chan is pretty.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Yes, I liken myself to a small fox cub. Haha! Just joking.
> 
> As you can see, no, I will not force anyone to endure a Mary Sue character. Any new characters that will be introduced will most likely be around a few chapters or less to move the story along since, you know, the world has people all over the place. Otherwise, no worries. 
> 
> Wow, Yakuma is just the major butt-monkey of the group—everyone ends up hitting him, his love is horribly unrequited and impossible, his nickname is "Mom" or "mother-in-law" and so on. I hope his situation improves in the manga.
> 
> Zori: Japanese slippers. They look like flip-flops essentially, except I believe they are sewed from straw and covered in cloth, but I'm not too sure. The Dual Flowers are a pair of zori that government agent Hiruko, with his super powerful legs, managed to get in the volcano at Utsuryo Island. That's the place Utsuho and co. met Kuroha's group for the first time.  
> Tatami mat: The tatami mat is a rectangular straw mat tightly sewn together and used for most old-style Japanese floors. The length is generally twice the width, and there are different measured mats. The ones I had in mind here were kyouma tatami, which are 0.955 m x 1.91 m (found on Wikipedia if you enter "tatami mat"). In other words, eight of these would make for 14.6 m2, or 19.6 ft2.  
> Isha-kun: This is Hikae's nickname for Yakuma. "Isha" means "doctor" in Japanese, and he simply adds the more familiar young man's honorific to it.


	6. Neya - Shopping's Always a Hassle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping with Iwashi is always an interesting affair. Throw in some surprise guests and they'll have a party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Neya and Utsuho are back to talking again. Yay! Now on with the story. As for the chapter title, I just want to say: I may be a girl, but shopping is one of my least favorite activities. It is exhausting going into stores and depressing thinking about the money you have just spent. I'm a poor student paying off student loans, so this is a sentiment I always hold whenever I even buy a drink from a coffee stand!
> 
> Hopefully this story is going at a decent pace for anyone reading. Half the time, I felt like I was writing while half-asleep, so do excuse some of the oddity that I am unable to fix transferring from paper to computer.
> 
> As always, do review, whether with a loving or hating frame-of-mind, I'm open to it all. Because really people, that's life.

A large weight lifted from Neya's shoulders when she and Utsuho resolved the tension between them. When everyone got back, they were also glad that everything was back to normal. 

 

In fact, their greatest problem at the time became fitting in comfortably in such a crammed space. Both Utsuho and Hikae did not relinquish the stolen pillows (except Hikae gave one to Iwashi) despite the struggle that occurred.

 

Eight bundles were settled in eight futons, plus Nao was curled up with Neya. The lights were out and the subtle sounds of snoring arose more gradually.

 

Neya laid down on her side facing toward Minamo (and Utsuho! she inwardly squealed) preparing to go to sleep as well. A light slumber came upon her, not enough to pull her into her dreams, for slight sounds from the real world infiltrating the dark haze behind her eyes.

 

The beginnings of a dream appeared. Utsuho was Nao, yet his fur was white patterned black in two spots by Utsuho's design he wore. The Utsuho-fox stared at her, then turned around and slowly walked away from her. His head swiveled back around, as if asking why she was not following him. She was going to take a step forward when a rustle of fabric caught her attention. It should not have been her when moving, and the fox was certainly not—

 

Eyes peered wearily open through the darkness of the room. Based on how much darker it had gotten, Neya figured it was already and hour into the night. Her eyes caught Utsuho's slitted ones, and in that dim light, she could not tell whether his eyes were open or closed. If they were, then he was staring right back at her. Neya continued to gaze at him, figuring that he would let her know if he knew she was awake and ogling him.

 

Satisfied she was safe, she simply enjoyed absorbing Utsuho's sleeping image. For several minutes she laid there staring serenely.

 

An eye cracked open. "Stop looking at me, I can feel it in my sleep!" whispered Utsuho, along with a pillow thrown at her face.

 

Mortified at being caught in the act of unabashedly watching him sleep, Neya could feel the blood rush to her cheeks heatedly. She also noted the pillow he had thrown at her; Utsuho had already flipped over to his other side away from her, so she assumed he had no intention of taking it back.

 

_'Thanks, Utsuho,'_ she thought as she laid her head on the pillow, at last entering the realm of dreams for the night.

 

xXx

 

The next morning allowed for everyone to stock up on supplies and do some general shopping. It also showed that Nao could walk around decently on his bandaged foot.

 

Neya accompanied Iwashi and Minamo while the princess browsed around for new fabrics and any "beautiful things" as she would say.

 

"Hm, this color lip paint would suit you, Nee-yan~" said Iwashi, holding a small compact of pale pink paint.

 

"Do you think so, Hime-sama?"

 

"Of course. And a girl should always try to look more beautiful."

 

The itsuwaribito was always touched by the princess's thoughtfulness. She deliberated on getting the make-up, for it certainly appeared to be a pretty color, and just about matched her hair.

 

"KYAAA!!!"

 

"AH!"

 

The three girls chanced a look outside where all the screaming and commotion was coming from. Men on horses and by foot waving their swords and spears around flooded through the town: bandits.

 

"I'll go get Utsuho-sama!" yelled Iwashi, speeding nimbly out of the store while Neya focused on protecting Minamo.

 

"Come on, Minamo-chan!"

 

Both of them dodged around the bucking horses and ducked beneath swinging spears. The entire time, Neya was keeping her eyes peeled for Utsuho and the others.

 

"Over there," Minamo said in her small airy voice, pointing behind he to the right.

 

Thank goodness Minamo was calm enough to remember to use her eyes, because Neya had completely forgotten about them! 

 

It was a mad dash through the surrounding chaos, even if they stayed to the side. Neya had to waste a couple kana on bandits that charged at them. Their luck was not holding, since Utsuho and the rest seemed to also be moving farther away each time, if the explosions were any indication.

 

"Where is he—ah!" Neya caught a glimpse of spiky white hair several yards away from them. "There he is!"

 

BAM!

 

……

 

The world spun as Neya fell into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Finally, something serious is happening! I actually really liked writing all of the stuff that comes after this, so I hope others can enjoy it too.
> 
> I do believe that the ancient form of lipstick around the world (or at least in Asia) had pigments mixed in with oil, similar to modern lipstick but nowhere near as advanced, so it was a type of paint that they would use brushes to apply on the lips. Remember Mulan when she was dressed up for the meeting with the matchmaker? Think of something like that.


	7. Utsuho - Shopping's Always a Hassle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Neya and the others are shopping, Utsuho is doing some more fun shopping of his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Okay, last chapter for the night. I'm just speeding through what I've written. Well…I've handwritten up to 62 pages, and the first six chapters only cover the first 20, so there's still a lot left.
> 
> I'm too sleepy to write anything else here. *Yawn*
> 
> Wow, I just yawned after typing that. Anyone ever wonder why yawns are so contagious? So weird…

Morning was unwelcome to the sleepy itsuwaribito. It was bad enough that they were cramped together in such a small space, though he could get used to it, but he had been STARING at Nee-chan as she slept!

 

Granted, part of it was because that little annoyance, Nao, kept burrowing loser and closer to Nee-chan's chest (both things which were distracting). He could tell that fox did not like him and was even trying to play _him_ , yes him! The great itsuwaribito Azako Utsuho! Utsuho could swear the pest had looked at him after getting closer to Nee-chan and _snickered_.

 

No, no matter what Nee-chan said, he did not believe they would get along very well.

 

By the way, **no** he had not been peeking at the moderately open kimono collar **nor** did he give her a pillow so that it was not as obvious when her head was more elevated, because that would imply he was actually bothered by it. Which he wasn't!

 

That's such a lie.

 

He could practically hear the voice in his head telling him his trademark line. Does it count as being tricked if he's the one tricking himself?

 

Anyway, Utsuho was somewhat sleep-deprived, and an hour more of respite sounded like heaven. Unfortunately, what with all the noise that came with everyone waking up, going back to sleep seemed even more troublesome.

 

As the girls went to do their girly shopping, Utsuho, accompanied by Hika, went to visit a shop he had glimpsed the night before when it was closed. Uzume and Chouza had said something about eating and Yakuma was doing his thing.

 

"Oh? Gunpowder?" said Hika when they arrived. "You low?"

 

"Yeah, it's been a while since I restocked."

 

Utsuho perused the shop, checking the quality of the powders, collecting what he liked into a bag. He paid the shop owner for his purchase and as they were walking out—

 

"KYAAA!!!"

 

"AH!" came the distant shouts from outside.

 

One itsuwaribito glanced at the other.

 

"Let's go see what the fun is all about."

 

"Sure thing."

 

Chaos had overtaken the town in seconds. Bandits both on horses or on their feet stampeded through, breaking store fronts, attacking people, and grabbing women. Utsuho hoped the girls were all right, trusting in Nee-chan's use of kana, Minamo's eyes, and Iwashi's resourcefulness. Hika stepped right into it all, claws read and tearing through the troublemakers. Utsuho could also imagine whoever happened across Uzume would end up knocked out in half a second flat.

 

Yakuma was Yakuma. He hadn't died yet, so.

 

A few horseless bandits came at Utsuho.

 

"Be careful of the bomb I just threw behind you," he said, causing the three to turn around immediately to check, allowing him to light and throw a quick-detonating bomb at their feet. The men flew backward along with the dirt and rock, passed out from the impact.

 

_'There are too many of them spread all over the place. I can't afford to use bombs on all of them; poisons are also out of the question with all these villagers around. I guess I'll have to take 'em down as they come and count on Uzume to take care of the rest.'_

 

His course of action decided, Utsuho did his best in taking out as many of the guys separated from the others with a simple punch, and the men in larger groups were given the bomb treatment.

 

He found Uzume cleaning out numerous men in front of a tea house, backed-up by Chouza and Yakuma…well, more like the two were standing there as Uzume took down all of the incoming enemies.

 

"Utsuho-sama~!" called Iwashi, whom was standing beside a rather bloodied Hika.

 

"Hime-san?" He did **not** see Nee-chan or Minamo there, so what was going on?

 

"Utsuho-sama, the others are over this way!"

 

Now mostly regrouped, Utsuho and the others continued to knock-out any of the bandits. Some of them were retreating already, but Utsuho would not go out of his way to track down the pursuers at the moment.

 

At last, the six arrived at the accessory and make-up shop, regrettably left in ruins. Many of the more fragile objects were broken, shattered, cracked, while another good portion was simply missing. Nee-chan and Minamo were nowhere to be seen, and searching was still difficult with the remaining bandits hanging around.

 

"Uzume, can you take care of this guys while we look around for Nee-chan and Minamo-chan?"

 

"I'll clear 'em up quirkily!"

 

"Quickly," corrected Chouza.

 

Walking around, Utsuho gazed at the faces of the people still around and those civilians collapsed on the ground. Uzume made quick work of the rest, which gave them more freedom to check the rest of the town.

 

"Nee-chan! Chibikko! Neeee-chaaaan!!" he called, searching even the alleyways. "Chibikko!" Still, nothing came up. Utsuho even went back to the inn where their belongings were, yet no one was there.

 

"Nee-chan! Chibikko!" he yelled again outside. "Neya!"

 

"Rawr!"

 

Utsuho glanced down at Nao, alone and tugging at his pant-leg. He steadily walked where the fox cub insisted, heading out of town in the direction of—

 

The escaped bandits. Utsuho's eyes widened right before narrowing dangerously.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Done! There. Next chapter is a bit longer and more involved. Please review any way you want. See you later then!


	8. Neya - A Bandit, a Merchant, and a Hostess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neya and Minamo are stuck in a poor situation after the bandits' raid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Okay, so despite no one reading this, I will not give up! I'm the type of writer that will take the story to its end, rather than leaving it hanging for years and years. Each story deserves love and care! *sniffles* I've also started typing up another fanfic for Itsuwaribito Utsuho except…dun, dun, duuuuuh! It's a high school AU! It was inevitable that one came out, and I really have had a lot of fun envisioning what to do with all the characters. That, and I think I can make a much spicier, interesting story between Utsuho and Neya in that setting.

A dull throbbing in her head awoke Neya. At first, she was extremely confused as to where she was, seeing as it was definitely not the town they had stopped at. Instead, she could see a river from her position tied on the ground—

 

Wait, tied? On the ground?

 

Indeed, a quick check of herself told her she was tied at the hands and ankles, the pull of the rope keeping her hands behind her back harsh and unyielding. If only they had put them in the front, she could reach her kunai and do something.

 

"You're awake, Neya."

 

Neya craned her head over her shoulder, where Minamo was also laying (though her hands were tied in the front) on her back and staring back at her. It was difficult, but Neya managed to hop onto her other side so she was face-to-face with Minamo.

 

"Are you okay, Minamo-chan?"

 

"Yes. And you, Neya? They hit you fairly hard."

 

"It's just a bump, I'll be fine. So," Neya glanced around her, "what exactly happened?"

 

"After hitting Neya-san, some of the bandits grabbed Minamo and Neya and escaped. They left many of their men behind to keep Uzume and the others occupied to gain some distance."

 

"But why exactly did they take us?" asked Neya, also noting all the other girls and women with them.

 

"Minamo is not sure exactly why, but Minamo did see something about a deal."

 

Those words caused Neya's heart to sink. It was never a good sign when girls and deal were in the same equation. However, she could not despair or Minamo would also be upset. The child was very apt at noting others' emotions and empathizing.

 

"Don't worry, Minamo-chan. Utsuho-san and the others will definitely save us if nothing else." If only Neya did not feel so useless herself, she would be more confident in being able to get her and the rest of them out of there. This is probably why Utsuho called her no good right after she pushed him out of the way of the collapsing ceiling in Ouno since she had no plan for what would happen next. "We can also keep vigilant for any chances to get away, and hopefully release of these women."

 

"Minamo will try hard, too."

 

"Alright! Time to move on!" yelled one of the bandits. A couple approached their resting space and noticed Neya.

 

"So you're awake!" exclaimed one. "Sorry about the bump, but I saw you attacking some of our comrades—figured it'd be best to tie you up while you slept."

 

Damn. Her cover was exposed going in. She would have to work at it if she was going to convince these dolts to undo her hands and grab her kunai. Neya put on her most pitiful, pained face.

 

"You know, these ropes are _really_ hurting my arms. I promise I won't try to run, but could you please at least tie my hands in front of me. _Please,_ " she pleaded, adding a small quiver to her voice.

 

"Haha!" barked the other man. "What a vixen this one is!"

 

"Sorry, hun, but…" the one who knocked her out leaned close, leering at her face with a crooked grin, "I personally like you tied like that, with your chest all…pushed out like that."

 

Neya drew back scowling at the insinuation, peeved and embarrassed at her breasts that were forced outward due to her uncomfortable position. The two men broke into guffawing laughter.

 

"Come on, now. We're moving." One calloused and dirty hand tugged painfully on her elbow, lifting her body up onto her feet with a great deal of twisting.

 

All of the women were rounded up and forced to walk surrounded on all sides by the bandits. For several hours, they walked until they came to a clearing off the side of the road. Another suspicious group waited there with horses and empty wagons.

 

"Finally! I was wondering what was taking you so long with the merchandise!" shouted a portly, finely dressed, middle-aged man with a top knot.

 

"Some people interfered and beat most of my men, so don't complain," said the bandit that had ridden in front the shoal way. No doubt the leader.

 

"How many did you bring me?"

 

"Twenty-one."

 

"Alright, then by our agreement, you get two ryo* per woman, totaling forty-two ryo." The portly man signaled to one of his other attendants.

 

"Now wait a minute," interrupted the bandit leader, his fist pressing on the portly man's shoulder. "I went through a great deal of trouble to get these women, I believe that deserves a bonus."

 

The portly man seemed a bit shaken, but he did not back down. "Our agreement was two ryo per woman. Whatever troubles you come across in obtaining them is simply part of the expense."

 

"And then you get to take them with no trouble at all and sell them for double and live your high life in Yoshiwara*, so don't go telling me the trouble is part of the expense," said the leader dangerously.

 

The argument was clearly won.

 

"Fine," conceded the portly man. I'll give an extra ten ryo for your troubles for a total of fifty-two ryo. Is that enough?"

 

"Perfect." The leader remove his fist, then patted the man's holder laughing heartily. "Just perfect! Hand over the women!" he commanded.

 

The men forming the barrier around them started to shove each of them into the wagons, and the leader received several bundles of gold.

 

Neya worried more about what he had said. "Yoshiwara?" She was pretty sure that was the top red-light district in Edo, where young girls and women lived as geisha to low-ranked prostitutes to high-level courtesans. Were they to be sold there? Or was that just where the portly man enjoyed himself? 

 

Either way, it sounded like they were headed to Edo, in the opposite direction of Kyoto.

 

xXx

 

The ride was long, boring, uncomfortable, and unhelpful. Neya still could not get out of her ropes and they were doing a number of her wrists and arms twisted behind her. Though the portly man had far fewer men, he distributed them among the wagons craftily. Two sat in the front and two in the back of each wagon ensured nothing would happen. The procession stopped several times, yet when night fell each day, another man would take over the reins while the former slept. The poor horses barely got any sleep during their breaks. What worried her even more was that this pace was rapidly putting more distance between them and Utsuho and everyone. No matter how strong Uzume was or clever Utsuho was, they still needed sleep and none of them had horses—nor the money for one.

 

Several days since their kidnapping, Neya and Minamo saw the gates to what gave the impression of being a mini-city. A sign posted at the top read "Yoshiwara".

 

Oh no, so her fears were realized. Stories about the inescapable fortress of the infamous Yoshiwara had reached her even on Nadeshiko Island. Once they were sold there, there would be no getting out. Their time was up.

 

Brothels lined the streets they passed through, each with women behind wooden bars overly made-up in kimonos that hung around their shoulders and obi tied in the front*. Fancy ornaments adorned the hair of many, and the red lights cast from paper lanterns glinted off of the metal pieces. Men wandered about, window-shopping around the fronts of the stores as though they were looking to buy a horse.

 

It churned Neya's stomach.

 

"Don't look, Minamo-chan."

 

The prophetic girl actually appeared uneasy amidst everything, curling in closer to Neya's side. It was uncommon to see her bothered by anything which made it all the more worrisome. There was a certain element to the place that likely disturbed Minamo enough so she did not calmly give her ill-boding omens.

 

The carts changed course into a back alley behind an affluent-looking brothel. The portly man spoke to his attendant before getting off and entering the establishment. A few minutes later, he and a stern older woman came back out.

 

"Get out and line up!" demanded the old woman.

 

The women, unable to do anything but obey, did as told before her calculating eyes. Silently, the old woman began her inspection. No pity emanated from the aged woman, no remorse or hesitation in her movements, not even a kind word to the frightened girls. She simply went down the line, studying each one intently, sometimes asking the woman or girl to turn around. The ones she nodded to, she pulled out of the line and pushed toward the brothel wall.

 

One girl, early in the line-up, looked to be barely thirteen and burst into tears, sniveling in front of the terrifying old woman.

 

"Enough. There is no crying here. It was your own bad luck for ending up here," she said, her tone broaching no room for argument. Even so, the girl could not stop her tears as she, too, was pulled back with the others. The girl's sentiments were mirrored in nearly half of the women there, each dreading the life that was now laid before them.

 

The old woman drew closer to Minamo and Neya. The elder girl only hoped that she ended up in the same place as Minamo. If they were separated, all bets were off to keep an eye on her. Problem was that Minamo was behind her in line. If Minamo had been first, Neya could then try to act accordingly, but she did not think Minamo could pull off being more or less appealing.

 

Finally, the old woman stopped in front of her. Yeesh, she would take the revenge-crazy old woman in Sakata* over this old bat lady. At least that woman had some semblance of a heart.

 

"Why are her hands tied behind her back unlike the others?" inquired the old woman.

 

"I heard that she was more feisty than the other ones, whatever that may mean, so they prepared her like so," said the portly man.

 

"Feisty, hm?" said the woman, a critical eyebrow rising up her forehead. "Not for long."

 

She grabbed Neya's shoulder with a firmer grip than she expected of the old woman's skeletal hands, then led her to the others. She made sure to give her one more firm warning glare before moving back to Minamo. Thankfully, Minamo was pleasing enough to her because she soon dragged her over, too.

 

By the end of the selection, only nine of the twenty-one were chosen. The remaining twelve were reloaded into the carts.

 

"I'll give you thirty-five ryo for these nine. Five for four of them, four for two, three for one, and two for the remaining two girls."

 

"Yes, of course," agreed the portly man. The money was handed over and the man greedily smiled, "Always a pleasure doing business."

 

"Indeed," said the old woman with a tight, cold smile. "Do be sure to come by and enjoy yourself."

 

"I will be looking forward to it!"

 

With that, the portly man left the back alley with the remaining twelve girls. _'He certainly is profiting from such trades,'_ thought Neya.

 

"Now." The old woman directed herself to the nine of them. "You will refer to me as 'Okami'* and will do exactly as I say. Those who disobey are punished. When you are at the front window, those not attracting enough customers will not receive meals for that day and the next. If customers are dissatisfied with you, then you will be punished. Understood?" The old woman made a pointed look at Neya with her final word.

 

"Yes," they mumbled dejectedly.

 

_'This does not look good at all.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Wuh-oh! They've been sold into prostitution! Let's see what is on Utsuho's side of the story next chapter.
> 
> Ryo: Part of the old Japanese currency, and is the gold flat piece you sometimes see in anime and manga.  
> Yoshiwara: This is a real place in Japan. The shogun declared in major cities prostitution and red-light districts would be limited to one major district. In Edo, this was Yoshiwara, which pops up most in anime and manga (such as Gintama) compared to the districts in Kyoto and Osaka.  
> Sakata: This was the place that Neya lived and the princess there, known as Onihime, had Neya become her shadow-double.


	9. Utsuho - How Shameless!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utsuho and the rest are in pursuit of their kidnapped comrades, Neya and Minamo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: On to Utsuho's side of the story! Please review, I don't want to sound desperate, but I really would like someone to read.

They wasted no time in pursuing the escaped bandits. Nao was very helpful, using his nose to pick up traces of Neya's scent. Their main concern was how long would the scent trail remain before it became overridden with others, and then tracking them would become nigh impossible.

 

If only they had Pochi! Pochi, like many tanuki seemed to, had acute hearing and would be able to pick up people's voices while Nao sniffed them out. Minamo would have also been ideal for the situation since she did not need any of that physical evidence to find out where they went.

 

Too bad she was _with_ Neya.

 

The search was slower than he would have liked, and Nao was starting to have trouble smelling anything leaving them to speculate on where they might have gone.

 

"The villagers had noted quite a few of their women missing, some even seeing bandits intentionally grabbed and kidnapped them," said Yakuma. "So, either they took them for their own pleasure—"

 

"But Minamo is a small girl!" shouted Uzume. "They didn't grab little girls for their measure too, right!?"

 

"That's pleasure, and no, they did not go through all that trouble to get women to pleasure themselves," said Chouza.

 

"Which means they're likely being sold as prostitutes for _other_ men," concluded Hika, his arms crossed behind his head once again. "They stand to make a lot of money selling women into prostitution."

 

"Aran. How dirty and _not_ beautiful," said Iwashi.

 

"Why are you saying that so easily, Hika!?" yelled Utsuho, followed by a punch to Yakuma's face.

 

"Why are you hitting me!?"

 

"Okaan*, where'd they go!?"

 

"Do you really think now's the time to be joking around Utsuho!?"

 

"Always!" Another punch.

 

"Hey, hey. Focus, we have to focus," reminded Chouza. "Not only are they in danger of being sold, but both of them holds a kokonotsu treasure. We want to get to them before someone figures that out. Though I'm not too worried about Minamo losing hers since it won't come off and it protects her, but Ane-chan*…"

 

"That would be a problem for Nee-yan," Iwashi said.

 

"Where would they be headed then?" Hika asked, bringing the discussion back on point.

 

"The major red-districts would be our best bet," deduced Yakuma. "At those places, women would be sold highest. In Kyoto, there's Shimabara, Edo's Yoshiwara, and Osaka's Shinmachi."

 

"You know all the names for such places, Okaan!? How shameless!" said Utsuho, hitting Yakuma again.

 

"It's not like I've ever been to any of those places!"

 

Nonetheless, Utsuho was already no longer listening.

 

"Osaka is out of the question since it's so far away, and Kyoto is also unlikely given that we've been following them southeast, not southwest. They seem to be heading toward Edo."

 

"Then to Edo we go."

 

xXx

 

In concern for Nee-chan and Minamo's safety safety, the six travelers kept a steady pace of jogging, walking, jogging, break, jogging, walking, jogging, and so on. Nao's leg as much better according to Yakuma, enabling the fox to run with them. The fox cub kept at the front of the group, at times trying to run ahead when they walked or stopped to eat. He began to get used to taking breaks quickly, though, because at those times he would be fed or given water. In place of Neya's absence, Nao would stick by Yakuma mostly, whom took care of him very well in Nee-chan's absence.

 

Day after day passed by in such a rushed manor. The first day saw most of them run ragged (even Iwashi) except the muscle-headed Uzume. Fortunately, with each passing day, the soreness became second nature and their pace even increased with longer running time and shorter walks.

 

Utsuho was glad to run until he was exhausted by the time night came. He worried what he would have thought if he was lying awake and restless; mores, he feared what his dreams would show him if he had not been consistently falling sleep like a rock and waking up the next morning as if only seconds had passed. He recalled the night he saw Nee-chan and Yakuma embracing was filled with dreams of her blatantly kissing the doctor in front of him, leaving him extremely uncomfortable. The night he had been staring at her without her knowledge, the same night he had come to… _appreciate_ some of her _features_ more caused him to be teased by her little slips of her kimono, each time showing a bit more skin.

 

He did **not** want to start dreaming about her in the prospect of becoming a prostitute. Straight, plain sleep was good.

 

xXx

 

Two weeks passed from the incident in town. All of them stood at the gates of the red-light district slightly separated from Edo-proper. On any normal day, any one of them would be thrilled to run into Edo and explore the chatty, but that day was not normal. This much was an obvious fact with two of their companions absent from their company.

 

"Hime-san, stay out here with Hika," Utsuho said. Bringing in such a pretty, and erotic, girl like Iwashi would be asking for more trouble than he would like.

 

"Yes, Utsuho-sama~."

 

"I'll take care of her, Utsuho-kun."

 

"The rest of us going in, Thread Eyes?" asked Chouza.

 

"Yeah, the four of us will go in and look for Nee-chan and Chibikko. If you find them, return near the front gate, out of general site and wait for the others. If you don't find them, head to the same spot in three hours."

 

Chouza, Uzume, and Yakuma nodded. Surely that was simple enough of a plan even for Uzume.

 

Each of them went separate ways once they passed the gate. Utsuho immediately concentrated on scanning through the wooden bar windows and crowd, just in case, searching for that pale sakura-colored hair.

 

The women hanging near the bars of the windows would coo and beckon to him, promising a wonderful night he'd never forget, sensation he's never felt, and so on.

 

Whoever came up with the idea of those front windows and forcing women to attract men for money was uncool. He knew at a least that an unprofitable prostitute would likely be punished for wasting the owner's money—the women, in fear of this, grew accustomed to attracting and bedding men with all their might.

 

Utsuho could not really see Nee-chan going quietly. No matter how useless she was sometimes, she was still an itsuwaribito. Only other itsuwaribito got the better of an itsuwaribito…he was convinced she would not allow herself to be taken advantage of.

 

It would be nice if he was absolutely sure of that, but Minamo was also there, which may make it harder for Nee-chan because she would do anything to protect her. 

 

The search was proving fruitless on his end, no matter how many of the numerous brothels he searched. What if she was already with a customer? Oh, he did not even want to finish that thought or he would hurl up what little lunch he had eaten earlier. His eyes were getting weary straining them for so long, and the designated three hours was nearly up. Somewhat disappointedly, he headed back to the entrance of Yoshiwara.

 

"Thread Eyes."

 

Utsuho looked over to the side, where Chouza relaxed behind a wooden post near a teashop. He did not look back at him, coming off as nonchalant. Inconspicuously, Utsuho settled at a table and asked for two teas. Chouza slid into the bench across from him.

 

"Find anything?" Utsuho asked first.

 

"Yeah. Found where Ane-chan is."

 

Relief unfurled the knot in his stomach.

 

"Oh, look," said Chouza, glancing over Utsuho to someone in the street. "Uzume, Doc."

 

Yakuma managed to find them, likely with the help of Nao heading toward them without any prompting. Uzume waved wildly to Utsuho's dismay, although it seemed to have been generally ignored by passersby.

 

"I crossed paths with Uzume, so we explored a little together."

 

"So useless, Okaan. Chouza actually found something while you were babysitting Bird Brain."

 

"You did, Chouza!?" asked Uzume excitedly.

 

"I saw Ane-chan in the window at one of the more high-end brothels. I only saw her from afar, but that was definitely her hair."

 

"Why didn't you go closer and talk to her?" Uzume questioned naively.

 

"Because, Bird Brain, if he had, they would have known she has people here looking for her and it would raise their guard."

 

"Be that as it may…" Chouza started cautiously, "pretty soon after I saw her, a guy came and picked her."

 

Utsuho froze. Beside him, Yakuma also ceased fussing over a snack he was feeding to Nao.

 

"……"

 

"I've got a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Utsuho's apparently ranked number one in intelligence in a character poll done by the author, so I shall exercise that to my advantage. Quick plan-making and execution.
> 
> Okaan: This is the equivalent of "Okaa-san" in Utsuho's dialect, which means "Mother." He calls Yakuma this from time to time when fooling around.  
> Ane-chan: A more formal way of saying "Nee-chan", which means "Big sister."  
> Shimabara/Shinmachi: Actual former major red-light districts of Kyoto and Osaka respectively.
> 
> Also, if anyone looks at a map, Osaka is practically directly south of Kyoto, and Edo is east of Kyoto. The town they were heading from initially was in the mountain areas northwest of Edo.


	10. Neya - Customers, Sometimes…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neya's stuck in Yoshiwara as a prostitute. And her job is not a walk in the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I'm just zooming through what I've already written so I can develop the stuff after chapter 15. I don't honestly know how long this story is going to be. We'll see.
> 
> Did anyone know that typing out a story on your phone with the swipe feature is actually pretty fun? I love imagining how Utsuho and Neya would act toward each other in a high school environment. Just what is so enchanting and fun about high schools???
> 
> Enough of my jabbering. On to the story.

Several days had been given to the new girls to be cleaned up, taught, and do basic chores. Minamo, being so young, was to only do chores and train until she was old enough to become a courtesan. The other veteran girls were saying she had the potential to climb the ranks of courtesans to oiran* if she tried.

 

Either way, it saved her from having to worry about them trying to take off her kimono and finding that it would not come off.

 

Neya, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Okami had confiscated her kanzashi*, the Peacock Feather kokonotsu. She promised that if Neya behaved quietly, she would one day return it once she had earned enough. On the other hand, if she _did not_ behave, Okami would sell it immediately. They could easily retrieve it if the old bat had it, but if it was sold, looking for it would be ten times harder.

 

Meanwhile, for the most part, Neya tried to be indifferent to Minamo, as if the two simply coincidentally happened to be kidnapped at the same place and time. That way, Okami would not think to use Minamo as leverage against Neya nor vice versa.

 

The day the newcomers were told they were ready to be put on display, Neya was all nerves. She had managed to hide her kunai by bundling a cloth around them carefully and calling it her pillow, but in the rooms they were to entertain the customers in, she would have no way of retrieving them.

 

What was worse was her outfit. Like all the others she had seen, her kimono had the obi* tied at the front and her collar hung past her shoulders. That brought up some recent memories with Utsuho and Uzume, yet these were quickly chased away. Her pale sakura-colored hair was done up in a loose bun with a single comb stuffed in.

 

In that breezy, yet somehow stuffy cage, she sat peering out at the passing men. In the beginning, there were enough other women to duck behind and avoid notice. Inevitably, that luck changed with the onset of late afternoon and the wall of people thinned. For a moment, Neya thought she saw familiar green hair passing on the other side of the street. Hoping that her assumption was right and everyone had found them, she calmed her racing mind. It would do little good to act out and let Okami and their watchers know her friends were there. Her eyes closed, reassured that her and Minamo would not be for Yoshiwara long.

 

"That one."

 

Her eyes snapped open as a man, likely twice her age by the looks of it, moderately dressed and groomed, pointed right at her with a lecherous grin on his face. How could she have forgotten where she was? She was not at all in the clear yet! Before she could react, one of the spokesmen for the shop went back and spoke to another who stood by the door to the cage. He opened it and looked right at her.

 

"You," he pointed, "come out."

 

"W-wait," she stuttered, turning back to the customer. "You didn't pick me, right? That's just a silly misunderstanding, right?"

 

The man huffed a bit, angry.

 

"I meant _you_! Are your whores all this undisciplined!?" complained the customer to the two male workers.

 

"Sakura," came the voice of her current most-hated person. Neya personally thought Sakura was a pretty name, but now that it was her calling-girl name, she _hated_ it.

 

Obediently, Neya stood up and shakily walked out of the cage. The man was led away first, leaving Okami to have a word with _Sakura_.

 

"Remember what I said. Do not cause any trouble." The unspoken threat hung in the air.

 

Okami then led Neya to one of the rooms upstairs, far more nicely furnished than the ones on the ground floor where the girls slept, and walked away. According to her training, she was to bring tea and sake* on a tray with some snacks, knock on the door while kneeling, bow, and enter. Realizing the old bat had expected her to grab the tray of refreshments downstairs and come back up to the room, Neya took her time in going down the stairs…entering the kitchen…asking for a tray, then pretending to drop a cup because she was "just too clumsy"…steadily walking back up the stairs…and finally arriving at the door.

 

Knock, knock.

 

"Please excuse me.*" Open. Bow. Stand, walk in with tray.

 

"Took you long enough!" grumped the man.

 

"I am terribly sorry," Neya said sweetly, plotting her course of action. "You may call me Sakura, dear customer*."

 

"Hehheh…you don't often find girls with hair like yours."

 

"Really?" she innocently asked, pouring some sake. "You must travel quite a lot. Do you see many different kinds of women?"

 

"Yes! I go all over the country to do work for my lord. He holds me in high regard."

 

"Dear customer must be a magnificent vassal, then, to be so trusted."

 

A cup was emptied, but she did not wait long to refill it. Counting to ten after he finished the cup, Neya silently offers more sake to the man.

 

"I'll likely be promoted in rank soon, too. With a couple more missions, I'm sure it'll happen. Then!" he takes a large gulp from his cup and smacks his lips, holding out his cup for more. "I will be able to come visit more often. Would that make you happy, Sakura-san?"

 

"My, how promising," flattered Neya. Cup emptied again, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,…10. Refill.

 

"I could even get you prettier combs for your pretty hair. Hmmm?" A rough hand rose up to a stray bang not confined by the bun, stroking the light pink lock as his fingertips barely grazed her cheek. Neya kept her face pleasant, ignoring the urge to pull away from the man's touch. With what little experience she had around people, she had learned that when a someone makes a commotion toward another, the other person will act out rashly to get their way. Advertising that she did not want to be with the customer would likely cause him to push himself on her more forcefully.

 

"Thank you very much, dear customer, that is too considerate toward me. Would you mind telling me about your travels? I do not get out much, you see…"

 

"Of course! I have plenty to share!" boasted the man. "You've probably never been to the capitol…" He kept jabbering on and on about the places he had been, steadily becoming more drunk. Always counting to ten before pouring more sake so he would not think anything of her gently offering more and more sake, she continued to nod and smile at the right points, then follow by asking more questions.

 

"S-ssoo, then…we had to rrriiide on out…to—where wazz it again?" slurred the man three-and-a-half hours later. All of the bottles of sake Neya had prepared for her plan were at long last out. The man was so incoherent, all in all, that it did not matter from what she could tell.

 

"I don't know, dear customer. However, it seems we are out of sake, so I will go fetch some more." Neya stood to leave, but her departure was halted by his hand on her wrist. For a drunk man, he undeniably held on quite firmly.

 

"I dint come heeere…just to jrink sake with a giirl…" a fierce tug brought her down trapped between the floor and his body. "I came…ta sleep with a girl."

 

The sake-reeking man leaned forward to place a sloppy kiss on her (untouched!) lips. Panicking, Neya shifted her head to the side and jammed a knee as hard as she could into his gut. The action made him groan and nearly collapse on her. Struggling with his weight, Neya pushed him off her onto the floor next to her and before he could get up or yell, she elbowed him in the chest with all her might. A forced wheeze exuded from his mouth, and the man was out.

 

She exhaled a sigh of relief and satisfaction as she leaned back from a job well done. Now to just relax here–

 

Knock, knock.

 

Her hopes were dashed spectacularly in mere seconds.

 

"Dear customer, are you finding everything to your liking?"

 

Darn it! It was the old bat, Okami! Nothing to do but lie.

 

"H-he's asleep," she answered. _'Asleep sounds much better than "knocked out".'_

 

The door slid open, and those wrinkled, fierce eyes surveyed the room and its occupants. Each second drew her brows down further to bunch angrily at her brow.

 

Looks like someone was not happy.

 

"Getting the customers drunk until they pass out is _not_ what you do as a courtesan. If they wanted to do that, they can simply go to a bar and waste their money there," clipped out Okami from tightened lips.

 

Neya, knowing that was the time to come across "ashamed", did her best impression of the emotion she could. Thankfully the old bat only blamed the sake for the man's unconscious state. Who knows what kind of trouble she would be in otherwise.

 

"To make up for tonight," continued the old bat, "you will _properly_ see to the next customer."

 

Neya's eyes widened. She wasn't off for the night? And she had to somehow deal with another lecherous pig that likes to hear themselves talk?

 

"This time, that means you **will** use your body to please him. I'll know if you don't. You will have to get over doing this with men eventually, so stop avoiding it. I will have some girls clean up this room and bring a tray up with tea and **one** bottle of sake, no more than that unless he asks for it. He is waiting in the room at the end of the hall. Do not enter until you have everything. And do hurry over, I must get this customer out."

 

She was doomed.

 

The wood groaned grudgingly under her feet as she gingerly stepped down the hallway. Her prime plan was ruined, so now what? And that damn bat knew about the sake scheme, meaning she could not pull it off again for the night unless if her customer was a heavy drinker—in that case, then it was unlikely he would be knocked over any time soon. The door stood in front of her forebodingly, as if to signal her doom. The end to her days of maidenhood. Waiting turned her into a nervous wreck thinking about the kind of man that was on the other side. Would he be young or old? Skinny or fat? Ugly or maybe even the slightest bit decent? She doubted that. The old bat was trying to punish her, there was no way it would be a decent customer.

 

"Sakura."

 

Minamo came walking toward her like a child ghost with her soundless steps, holding that damnable tray. The girl gently set it down beside Neya, nodded her head, and silently retreated back downstairs.

 

Was Minamo-chan really the one to seal her doom!? Oh, how cruel the world was at times.

 

Oxygen tried to escape her as she took deep breaths to calm herself so her heart did not beat its way out of her chest. Kneeling with her eyes closed, she knocked twice.

 

"Please excuse me." _Slide_. Bow.

 

Carefully picking up the tray of refreshments and snacks, Neya stepped into the room, closed the door, and set the tray down, bracing herself as she glanced up at her customer.

 

"Yo, Sakura-chan!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: There's a funny little coincidence about that last bit I did not notice until after I wrote it. I'll let you guys know next chapter, though.
> 
> Oiran: A courtesan that was knowledgeable in the arts and scholarly matters, and worked more to entertain customers by playing instruments, doing calligraphy, dancing, tea ceremony, and conversing as opposed to always sleeping with them. They were generally very beautiful, and could even turn down customers that they disliked.  
> Kanzashi: These are the tuning fork-like combs that Neya always wears. She had two initially in her pigtails, but now she only has the single kokonotsu that she puts in her ponytail.  
> Obi: The long, thick cloth used to tie a kimono closed that women wore. Normally, these would be tied in a bow in the back, but prostitutes had them in the front (from what I heard once or twice a long time ago) so that customers could easily untie them and undress the woman.  
> Sake: I know everyone knows this is Japanese rice wine but everyone (and I mean near about everyone that speaks English!) mispronounces this. It is sa-kay, not sa-key. The "e" in Japanese makes the "ay" sound like in "okay". Just had to get that out.  
> Please excuse me.: What Japanese say after knocking on the door twice (unlike our three times). It is "Shitsurei shimasu" which literally means "I will be rude/intrude."  
> Dear customer: This may seem weird that I am putting this, that's why I want to explain. When talking about customers, they call them "Okyaku-sama" or the less formal "Okyaku-san" which means "Dear customer." Japanese tend to use titles when they can instead of names. It makes things simple for me when writing because then I don't need to make a whole bunch of names up. Whew!


	11. Neya - Second Time's the Charm?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neya's second customer for the night is more than she can handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I had been boggled on how to do this part of the story dramatically enough, and I realized I could just change up the order of the POV so Neya got two in a row. Problem solved!

"Yo, Sakura-chan!"

 

Neya's face fell into utter shock.

 

There sat Utsuho, hair undone and (deliciously) messy, leaning back on his hands, a huge smirk plastered on his face.

 

"Utsuho!?" she screamed in a whisper.

 

"Hey, don't go acting so familiarly with me on my first time, Sakura-chan~" teased the itsuwaribito. Whether he meant it by his first supposed time sleeping with a girl or calling him "Utsuho" without an honorific even though "Sakura" has never met him, Neya did not know and chose not to dwell on it. His face dropped the smirk as he became more serious, staring at her intently. "I heard you had a customer before this."

 

"Oh!" she said, broken free from her surprise. "Y-yeah, I did. But I got him really drunk and knocked him out."

 

"Did he do anything before that?" he asked, expression darkening even further.

 

"Not really, he just grabbed me and tried to hold me down, and that's when I hit him. Now, though, Okami wants me to take another customer and e-entertain them _properly_." Just talking about doing something like _that_ with _Utsuho_ of all people brought a bright blush to Neya's face. "I just didn't expect it to be Utsuho-san."

 

"You're so useless, getting caught like this. You wouldn't be in this situation otherwise," pouted Utsuho, returning to his lax demeanor.

 

"I'm sorry…" Truly, she felt horribly guilty about it already, yet she knew he would say something about it. She even got Minamo involved. "What are we going to do?"

 

"We—" Utsuho began, when his head shot up and his eyes snapped open.

 

The world flipped on its side for a moment in Neya's mind, and her body tingled all over in sensation.

 

"Is everything going well, dear customer?" The door slid open revealing the old bat Okami kneeling. And the sight she was seeing was likely quite more than she expected.

 

Utsuho had Neya pinned on the floor, one hand riding up the kimono on her leg pulling on it to wrap around his waist, the other hand gripping the low-hanging collar at her breast as if to pull it away, and his face only a couple inches from hers. Every bit of skin that Utsuho touched, every inch of his body that pressed against her own through their clothes was electrifying, his soft breaths on her face so warm they peeked each nerve to attention; everything combined sent a searing heat throughout her body and charged her heart into pounding against her ribcage harder than when she first came in. This time it was not in trepidation, though, only excitement.

 

Above her, Utsuho glance, no, _glared_ at Okami and spoke coldly. "I was expecting to be alone for the night. It's _rude_ to interrupt."

 

Okami's face seemed to pale just a shade, and even amidst the flurry of sensation she was experiencing, Neya could not help but feel smug about the old bat's fear. _'Take that!'_

 

"I am terribly sorry. I will leave you be now." The door closed, and once again, Neya was all alone with Utsuho.

 

He twisted his head back toward her.

 

"Had to convince her to leave us alone for the rest of the night."

 

"Ah," she weakly pushed out, what with air being so hard to come by with him right above her! It was not fair how much cooler he looked without his bandanna on. She could not bring herself to tell him to get off. The one boy, more like man, that she bore such deep feelings for was so close to her for the first time, it made her heart ache from more than excitement. The longing increased despite him being right there, so much so Neya believed the only way to ease that longing was to grab hold of him and just keep him with her forever.

 

In spite of that, he apparently returned to reality faster than her. With quick, precise movements, the hands on her leg and at her chest that were dangerously close to exposing her pulled back, and the warm, firm body that was too overdressed for her taste lost contact with her. Utsuho moved out from between her legs to settle himself with his back facing her.

 

"You might want to fix yourself up, you know."

 

Oh wow! She could not believe she had been stupidly sitting there, kimono barely hanging onto her and had not thought to make herself a little more decent. Hopefully he did not see her as desperate. On the contrary, Neya might have very well been desperate. After all, there were many times she thought a moment with her and Utsuho tangled together passionately would never happen. A few tugs here and there and she was back to normal—or as normal as she could with that expository kimono.

 

"Alright."

 

Utsuho turned back around. His gaze fixed solely on her head, particularly her hair.

 

"Where are the kanzashi?"

 

"Okami has it, though I don't know where." She paused as she went over the situation in her mind. "How are we going to get it back and get out of here?"

 

"I've got a plan, but I'll need you and Chibikko to go along with me to execute it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Okay, so the coincidence about that first part! Some may or may not know about Utsuho being akin to a darker and smarter Naruto Uzumaki expy, which made it all the more coincidental when I decided to make Neya's call-girl name "Sakura" because of her hair and have Utsuho add "-chan" to it. So we have a Naruto expy (Utsuho) calling out "Sakura-chan" to a pink-haired girl (Neya). Totally unplanned, I promise!


	12. Utsuho - Candles Are So Handy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utsuho's got a plan to get Neya and Minamo out of Yoshiwara, all while having some more distracting thoughts on his mind…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: In celebration of finishing my GRE subject test on Saturday, I'm writing up this chapter! Ugh, I slept about 15 hours after coming back from that, and I am so relieved that it's over! Anyway, this is a much longer chapter. For some odd reason, I find writing Utsuho's POV more fun than Neya's. It makes elaborating easier, partially because he has had more character development than Neya.

The plan took some last-minute elaborate setting up, yet it was well worth it. Among the six of them (he dragged Hika and Iwashi in on it), they made preparations to rescue Nee-chan and Minamo. Part of it, however, consisted of going in as Nee-chan's customer. For that, Utsuho borrowed everyone's money, including Yakuma's single gold ryo.

 

When everything was ready, he approached the brothel Chouza had told him about. Nee-chan was still not in the window front, meaning she was likely with a customer.

 

"Welcome, dear customer," greeted an elderly stern woman. He assumed that was the hostess, okami, from what he had read about these sort of places.

 

"Good evening," he said pleasantly. With his hair down, Utsuho had always noticed people had taken him more seriously than when he pulled it up. This woman was no different.

 

"Have you seen any girls to your liking?"

 

"Well," he slowly drawled out, as if deliberating, "I've been looking around all day trying to decide on one, and I have noticed one with pale sakura-colored hair. Was I mistaken?"

 

The woman tensed a little. Never let a customer go was what she was likely thinking.

 

"No, you were not mistaken. We have a girl that fits that description. Currently she is waiting on another customer."

 

"Hmmm…" He made sure to keep up the act of sounding dissatisfied, yet he fully meant it deep down. "I will wait ten minutes, no more. If it takes any longer, I shall take my business elsewhere." Utsuho flashed the single ryo from the rim of his bag, allowing it to fall with a clink back onto the other money. "Until then, I'll grab some water if you don't mind."

 

The woman was too flabbergasted to stop him from going farther into the store toward the back. He looked around quickly for Minamo, and entered any room he could find, surprising a good number of women. Minamo was passing by from the kitchen to another room as he saw her. He quietly told her the plan and what she should do, grabbed a swig of water, then headed back to the front where the old woman stood.

 

"This way, please, dear customer," she said, leading him up the stairs and into a private room. As soon as she left, Utsuho examined his surroundings, figuring them into his plan. He sat down, relaxing and waiting for Nee-chan. There was not way one of these rich bozos had had their way with her, and if they had…

 

Well, let's just say he would not regret what he was about to do.

 

Knock, knock. "Please excuse me."

 

The door slid open and Utsuho could swear his heart stopped. There was Neya, bowing to him with that revealing kimono and those slender, smooth shoulders Uzume had gone on about. Oh no, play it cool.

 

The silly girl was not even looking at him as she brought the tray in and set it down, closing the door behind her. Finally, when she _did_ open her eyes and look at him in the face, the expression of shock was perfect! He could not resist teasing her.

 

"Yo, Sakura-chan!"

 

"Utsuho!?" Wow, not even an honorific, she was really shocked.

 

"Hey, don't go acting so familiarly on my first time, Sakura-chan~" he teased. However, remembering that she just got back from another customer, he searched for any indication that she had been touched, yet found none. "I heard you had a customer before this."

 

"Oh!" she said, clearly trying to get over her surprise. "Y-yeah, I did. But I got him really drunk and knocked him out."

 

Good, good, like he thought. You don't become an itsuwaribito and allow people to take advantage of you, after all.

 

"Did he do anything at all?" Utsuho pressed, still wanting to make sure there was nothing else. He could spot a lie if she tried to tell him one, and it felt as if there was a little more to the story than she was letting on.

 

"Not really, he just grabbed me and tried to hold me down, and that's when I hit him. Now, though, Okami wants me to take another customer and e-entertain them _properly_." Nee-chan turned red as she spoke—it did not take a genius to realize how innocent she was, and the insinuations of Okami wanting her to sleep with him were undoubtedly embarrassing. It was a good thing he came when he did, instead of allowing another man to take his place…which he _obviously_ meant in the way that she would not have to sleep with anyone, not the other way where _he_ would be the one to do the deed. The thought did not occur to him at all whatsoever.

 

"I just didn't expect it to be with Utsuho-san."

 

They needed to get out and soon.

 

"You're so useless, getting caught like this. You wouldn't be in this situation otherwise," he complained, putting on a disappointed pout to return to some form of normalcy. As long as he insulted her, he would be able to veer his thoughts away from other things.

 

"I'm sorry…" Nee-chan said, guilt lacing her tone. "What are we going to do?"

 

"We—" he started, ready to explain the plan in short detail, but he heard soft footsteps padding down the hall toward them. His racing thoughts reminded him that the hostess was displeased with Nee-chan and would like to keep him a happy customer, meaning she would be particularly watchful of them, meaning…

 

His quick reflexes enabled Utsuho to yank Nee-chan under his body, and he shoved his hands in the most obviously intimate places: on the bare skin of the back of her thigh, pushing the kimono hem up messily and fixing her leg around his waist; the other hand gripping the collar of that damn revealing neckline just above her pert breast. He held himself above her, his face hovering over hers.

 

The door slid open after that nosy woman asked if everything was to his liking. He could not hold himself back from outright glaring at her.

 

"I was expecting to be alone for the night. It's _rude_ to interrupt," he said cooly.

 

"I am terribly sorry. I will leave you be now." The woman, shaken from his harsh demeanor, closed the door and retreated based on the sound of her footsteps. He glanced back down at Nee-chan in the awkward position he had pulled them into.

 

"Had to convince her to leave us alone for the rest of the night."

 

"Ah," Nee-chan said breathily. God, he was reigning in every bit of control he had in that position! Utsuho noted that her hair was up in a bun unlike her usual ponytail, so the beautiful tress were unable to splay out around her as he always thought they would.

 

He should really stop then and there, but the actual feel of her skin was better than he imagined. If he just inched his hand up a few more inches inward on her leg, she would be moaning his name. And the other hand needed only to tug upward to reveal her doubtless milky white globe…with Neya gazing at him so intensely, a blush that outdid her hair covering her cheeks, and pert lips so ready to be attacked.

 

Down below, Utsuho took extra care not to settle too close to her on account of his noticeable problem in his pants. On closer inspection, the teenager saw two hardened nipples beneath her kimono. He recalled in those texts about reproduction and sex he had read that that was a sign a woman was either cold or aroused…

 

Utsuho pulled away from Nee-chan sitting with his back facing her, and his "problem" completely out of sight.

 

"You might want to fix yourself up, you know," he told her while adjusting his own pants indiscreetly. They had to think about the plan, and both of them being aroused and at each other in a brothel was _not_ part of it.

 

"Alright."

 

Carefully, trying to be as indifferent as possible and look at anything other than her chest or legs or lips, Utsuho fixated his gaze on her hair.

 

"Where's the kanzashi?" he asked to distract them both.. He knew the hostess had taken them since Minamo told him about it, but he could not allow silence. Silence tended to fill itself with other things.

 

"Okami has it, though I don't know where," she said, taking on an expression of deep thought. "How are we going to get it back and get out of here?"

 

"I've got a plan, but I'll need you and Chibikko to go along with me to execute it."

 

"Okay, what do I need to do? And how are you going to let Minamo-chan know?"

 

"I already took care of that. At midnight, we'll hear a signal from the others, and they'll start running around town making a commotion. We'll follow along with the act and run out the building. The rest of the plan will already be in motion. And Chibikko already knows where your kokonotsu is, so she'll grab that in the confusion and head out."

 

"Midnight is around another three hours, though. What will we do until then?"

 

"Prepare."

 

Utsuho pulled off his shoes. Nee-chan's face froze as she began to comprehend what he had in mind.

 

From his shoes and socks, gunpowder streamed onto the floor. He was slightly amazed no one noticed all the gunpowder he trailed through the brothel in the different rooms downstairs and upstairs, too. Gathering most of what he had left, Utsuho lined the walls and corner farthest from the door, with a small trail leading past a candle stand to the door. The bottle of sake was also used to soak the walls above the gunpowder.

 

"Gotta get more sake for the windowsill and roof," Utsuho said, noting the overhang of the first floor's roof right outside his window. Realizing he'd probably have to look really disheveled, he pulled off his tight black undershirt, opened his kimono more to show his chest and abs, then vigorously mussed-up his hair. He acted like he did not notice Nee-chan turning red again, but it was hard to miss when her eyes were drilling holes through his abdomen. "I'll be back."

 

 

Leaving the room with Nee-chan was like a breath of fresh air. So much tension had soaked into him in just those few minutes with her. Now he was not unfamiliar to having urges, because he had plenty of those in the early stages of puberty. Why, he would increase his pranks by three times on the girls his age in the village in order to get their attention. Utsuho had even shared his first kiss with the one had had a bit of a crush on.

 

This lasted for maybe two years or so, but after that, he refocused back on tricking everyone, learning new material he could use, etc. Essentially, he had, for the most part, gotten over the worst of it.

 

Or so he thought. After traveling so long with Nee-chan, in his mind, since there was not a lot of attraction on his end, nothing more would come of it. When she had confessed to him so suddenly, and _very_ clearly, he was thrown for a loop and extremely uncomfortable THe thought had not crossed his mind until she brought it up, and at that time, he simply had no interest. Even when Iwashi joined them, he became sure that his body was over the raging hormones if he was not reacting to _that_ kind of woman walking around. Nor did he have any problem when Hikae started to show an interest in the princess, or protectiveness at least toward the two girls. And he was not all that bothered when Nee-chan patted Uzume's head after Kuroha and Saiha's deaths. He honestly only threw that bucket at Uzume in the hot spring because he believed she deserved some privacy—he was a gentleman in his own right.

 

Ever since he saw Nee-chan hugging Yakuma, he supposed he felt a bit betrayed. She had confessed to _him_ , not that busybody.

 

Yet when she had come into the room he had just been in, right after some douche bag stranger had tried to touch her—! It may have been an act to fool the hostess, but for Utsuho, his once dormant hormones had reawaken with a force, demanding he make every inch of her _his_ , no questions asked. That formerly indifferent relationship he had with Muito Neya skyrocketed into intense, sensual territory. Heck, he would probably frighten her with how fast he went from one extreme into the other. Unlike those innocent kisses he shared in his pre-teen years with that one village girl, his body burned hotter than ever, ached with every step! to dominate Neya. If she had confessed to him that day in the Village of Dolls and he was thinking like this, he would have sent Pochi to Yakuma, found a private enough spot in the woods, and taken her against a tree, pure and simple. His thoughts were becoming a jumbled mess, which was bad because he needed to execute this plan.

 

But was this him reacting to being more exposed to the opposite sex? When he returns with Nee-chan and Minamo in tow, would he see Iwashi and think of her he same way? He'd have to wait and see, but for now, Utsuho had to get some more sake.

 

He had a building to burn, after all.

 

Utsuho made it to the kitchen again, unimpeded (not without some glances from the female workers, though), demanding two more bottles of sake. While wandering around he checked to make sure the gunpowder he had leaked was still properly in place before sneaking back up to the second floor.

 

One deep breath…two deep breaths…okay! Once more, he slid that flimsy door open, preparing himself to enter that room with Nee-chan sitting quietly on her knees. She looked so temptingly innocent looking at him without a worry like she was, completely trusting. Man, he did quite a job in convincing her he wasn't attracted to her in the last year. Great.

 

He crossed the room to the windowsill, soaking the wood in the alcohol, then trailing out to the roof, spreading over a wide enough area on the shingles. One of the ceramic shingles he pulled up carefully to put some sake in the wood beneath. It would be enough to get that area going for sure.

 

Both of his bottles were emptied, prompting him to face the object of his body's torment. Utsuho wondered what he reaction would be if he straightforwardly kissed her there and then. His thoughts veered further into his fantasy following a kiss, all probably too graphic for the girl. She may have lived on an island of exiled itsuwaribito, but Utsuho doubted she was much exposed to male advances as the main chief and caretaker of the children and less harmful men. As for when she was the Onihime's kagemusha, forget male advances, she likely had next to no human contact.

 

A sudden thought struck Utsuho. Nee-chan was still in that low-cut kimono, and they would be running out at midnight among crowds of people. He certainly did not want her to be exposed like that to so many. So, he slipped his black undershirt back on, and tossed his kimono top to Nee-chan.

 

"Wear that for now 'til you get your own clothes back," he told her, leaning against the windowsill in his best attempt to be his normal self. If he kept practicing, it should become natural for him. For all he knew, his urges could all be a phase.

 

"Thanks," she replied, slipping her arms through the sleeves while tugging the hem across her front closed. The broken-up white design on the left shoulder sprawled more against her tinier body, reaching halfway across her chest, and the sleeves draped over her hands. The effect was more cute than sensual, yet it did little to ease the satisfaction he felt seeing her swimming in his clothes.

 

Nee-chan darted her eyes awkwardly around.

 

"Want to play a game while we wait?" she asked suddenly. His interest was just as easily peaked. A game would be fun.

 

"What game?"

 

"I don't know." She paused, placing a finger to her chin in thought. "Does Truth or Dare sound good?"

 

"Sure," he agreed. In actuality, that had been his favorite game at the village, ironically enough. He never picked 'truth', of course. That was no fun. "Loser who can neither tell a truth or do the dare owes the winner any one order."

 

Nee-chan blanched. She knew she was going to lose before they even started, not that he blamed her for thinking so—they both knew she was not as creative as him.

 

"Then, I get to go first!" demanded the girl. "Truth or Dare?"

 

"Dare." No question there.

 

"Um, let's see…I dare you to…do a handstand while making noises like a monkey!"

 

Hah! Maybe this would be more fun than he initially thought. Complying with her otherwise humiliating demand had it been someone else, Utsuho balanced the weight of his body on his hands, going "Oo oo! Ah ah!" for a minute. When that was done, he turned right-side-up wearing a mischievous grin on his face.

 

"My turn. Truth or Dare?"

 

"Hmm……truth!"

 

"Have you ever farted in front of a lot of people, and when?" he said, his smile growing more devious by the second.

 

"You just had to ask something like that, didn't you, Utsuho-san?" she complained. Finding out about embarrassing situations was always the way to go when facing truth-tellers. "It was in front of the villagers on Nadeshiko Island right before we were going on patrol," came the mumbled admittance.

 

"Hahaha!" laughed Utsuho, not holding back in making fun of her. "You can't control yourself, huh? Hahaha!!"

 

"You're laughing too much, Utsuho-san! Truth or Dare!?"

 

"Dare!"

 

Nee-chan huffed as she crossed her arms.

 

"Then, I dare you to do the splits!" That wiped the amusement from his face and made him pause. Hesitantly, he stretched his legs apart, slowly spreading farther and farther until he was at about 140˚. His face screwed tightly in concentration as he tried to push a little farther. Nee-chan wore an aha-see! expression as he struggled. Teeth clenched, hands straining to hold him up from falling over, Utsuho gained another half-inch closer to the ground…

 

And then he sank all the way down to do a 180˚ split. Nee-chan's jaw dropped and, no, he was not in pain.

 

"Fooled ya," said Utsuho.

 

"W-wha—? How?"

 

"I practiced the splits when I was a kid. Being flexible is really useful." His overly confident smirk of victory drew a frown from the girl. "Truth or Dare?"

 

"Dare."

 

Hmm…what to make her do? Half of his mind was occupied with funny and amusing things she could do, while the other half was bridging on taking advantage of the situation for his own benefit.

 

"Drink up some tea…" he paused for the punchline," …through your _nose_." Well, if she wasn't just horrified when he finished that sentence. "Oh, and don't get my kimono dirty." Nee-chan threw a glare his way. He almost thought she was not going to do it given how long she waited until, at last, she grabbed an empty cup and poured some of the now-lukewarm tea in. Heeding his request, the kimono was pushed off safely out of the way, and she held the small rag that came with the tea pot under her face.

 

Reluctantly, Nee-chan tilted her head sideways, likewise tipping the cup to the nostril opening of her nose. Eyes closed tight, she drew in a large gulp of what should have been air but was green tea through her nose. Immediately she was choking and snorting on tea and, based on the viscous texture it possessed, Utsuho assumed snot. The rag covered her face, wiping at all the liquids Nee-chan was coughing and blowing out.

 

Needless to say, Utsuho was on the ground laughing his butt off. That was how the two teenagers passed the three hours of waiting. Since that first "truth" Nee-chan had chosen, there had not been any after that. It was Utsuho's turn when he figured it was nearly time for midnight. He was thinking more carefully about this one, since he wanted that prize for winning really badly.

 

"I dare you to walk from where you are to the tea and pour a cup… _with your eyes closed the entire time._ "

 

"Going blind!?"

 

"Yep. Don't think you can?" he said, sitting back against the wall crossing his arms over his chest. "Oh, and you have to hold your right forefinger to your nose the entire time." A little grudgingly, Nee-chan stood in place, her eyes shutting closed. The index finger of her right hand inched up to her face, first missing he nose and poking her in the eye until she corrected the positioning. One foot took a tentative, wobbly step forward to the left where the tea tray lay. The angle Nee-chan had taken was still a little too much to the right, but he was not going to say anything.

 

Each step accompanied a tilting motion as he hips attempted to keep her body straight and in-balance so she would not fall over. Utsuho would describe it as an extremely slow dance across hot coals, and the finger to the nose locked her right arm in place, preventing it from swinging out to help balance her. Nee-chan was going even further off-course near the halfway point, drastically wobbling to the right closer to him than the tea tray. Watching as she oddly tiptoed around, Utsuho waited to see if she would correct herself or run into a wall.

 

One foot proceeded farther, bringing her to another dangerous tilt. To compensate, she moved the other foot out to steady herself only to trip on the first foot while crossing it. This brought her to a tumble into Utsuho's lap, where he used his quick thinking and reflexes to catch her waist lest she jab him with her elbows and knees.

 

"Sorry! Sorry!" apologized Nee-chan, looking up at him from her fallen position.

 

"My win!" announced Utsuho happily. "You opened your eyes."

 

"No, redo!" she said, miffed at her screw up.

 

"Nope, we're out of time, and it's only a one-chance deal. You owe me one order."

 

"What is—"

 

SCREEEEEEEEEEE…

 

A loud, ear-piercing whistle resounded through the air, rising in volume for a few seconds then dying back down to silence. "That's the signal!" Utsuho said. Right after he said it, an explosion went off at the back of the building next to theirs. "Run as soon as I light this," he told her, grabbing hold of the candle holder and dropping the small flame onto the trail of gunpowder. "GO! Fire! FIRE!"

 

Nee-chan picked-up on the idea pretty fast, dashing out of the room.

 

"Ah! Fire! Fire!!" she screamed, drawing out the other inhabitants from the rooms. She tucked Utsuho's kimono top to herself closer, dragged along by the hand of the pyromaniac itsuwaribito. The two kept yelling "Fire!" as they ran outside the establishment that was rapidly going up in flames. Similar cries came from all across Yoshiwara.

 

BOOM!…BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!……BOOM! BOOM!…BOOM! BOOM!

 

Coming from various directions, the sound of explosions echoed throughout the district as more brothels were alit in dancing orange flames. Fire licked up the sides of so many wooden buildings, panicking most of the occupants into simply fleeing the red-light district.

 

Crashing wood reached their ears. In the corner of Utsuho's eye, he saw Uzume smashing the wooden bars on the front window cages where the prostitutes had been abandoned, locked in in fear. As soon as one cage was opened and women clambered out in a hurry, he moved right on to the next one in quick succession. Droves of escaping people, patrons and prostitutes alike, provided cover for Utsuho to drag Nee-chan to escape to safety past the gates of Yoshiwara.

 

Yoshiwara may have been known as an inescapable, corrupt fortress, but that was only because Utsuho had never come through town until then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Yay! This chapter that felt like it would take forever to type is finished! Hope you guys like it! And I really appreciate the people reading and reviewing this story—it makes me super happy!!! That and being done with my test. Hehe.


	13. Utsuho - Trials 1, 2, and 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utsuho is trying to sort his thoughts when it comes to girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Yep, another update in the same day. I was in the mood for typing today, and so I took the chance to do so. Even though Utsuho's previous chapter was really long compared to the others, he gets another one now. Like I said, there is something incredibly fun about writing it from his perspective.
> 
> Oh yeah, I forgot about it previously, but it seems we really can't simply put a URL address here, so the nickname sight was never shown. http: //decteeze . dreamwidth . org /2743 . html Just copy-paste into your URL address bar and remove the spaces and it will take you there.

They found Hika and Iwashi hiding in the shadows of the trees, deep into the forest outside of Yoshiwara. Iwashi seemed like she was sleeping while standing, and Hika was in his favorite pose against a tree.

 

"Good to see you back, Nee-chan," Hika said casually.

 

"It's good to be back. Are you waiting for the others now?"

 

"Yep. Their jobs were a bit longer and more involved in the plan," explained Utsuho.

 

Several minutes later, Yakuma returned with Minamo and the other women kidnapped from the village. Minamo was holding a large bundle that nearly blocked her face, which she handed over to Nee-chan. "Here, Neya."

 

The older girl unraveled the bundle to see her clothes, the kunai-stuffed pillow, and her kanzashi, the Peacock Feather. The gesture must have touched Nee-chan because her face changed to one that said Awww~! and she gave the prophetic child a hug while going, "Thank you, thank you, Minamo-chan!"

 

"We asked Minamo to find your things and all the women from the village so we could help get them back home safely," Yakuma said.

 

"I'm gonna go change!" she declared, running deeper into the trees out of sight. At least she would not be in that stupid courtesan-kimono. Soon after, Uzume and Chouza came back, too.

 

"Minamo!!" exclaimed Uzume as he ran up to hug the girl whom, though her face remained impassive to the untrained eye, tinged a light pink. "And Utsuho! Where's Nee-chan!?"

 

"Rather than that, did you get everyone out in time?"

 

"Yeah, he was breaking them out in record time," said Chouza.

 

"Oh, Uzume-san, Chouza-san!" said a girl's voice from behind them. Nee-chan emerged from the darkness of trees, dressed in her yukata and ponytail with the kokonotsu safely tucked in her hair.

 

"Nee-chan!!" Uzume ran up to her in the blink of an eye, lifting her by her waist into the air and then dropping her down into his arms for a tight hug.

 

"Thanks, Uzume-san, it's good to see you again, too." The blush that highlighted her cheeks would have otherwise made Utsuho think she was cute if it were not for the fact that it was Bird Brain holding her that made her blush. She should not be blushing for that dolt! Luckily, Bird Brain let her down soon enough. She took the opportunity of freedom to walk over to Utsuho, and handed him his black kimono top back.

 

"Thanks for letting me borrow it…and thank you for rescuing me, Utsuho-san."

 

"It's been a while since my last building burning and master plans, so it was about due."

 

"Maybe we went a little overboard though, Utsuho-san. To burn an entire district…" said Yakuma uncertainly.

 

"How shameless, Yakuma!" yelled Utsuho with a punch to the doctor's face. "You would leave all those poor girls behind to live a life of prostitution!? Have some shame!" Another punch.

 

"Ow! I get it, but it was still dangerous."

 

"It's no fun it it isn't," added Hika.

 

"Wait, exactly how did you guys do it, though?" Nee-chan asked.

 

"Glad you asked!" Utsuho said, switching to an exuberant salesman tone, then becoming his usual explanatory self. "The screeching whistle was a contraption I made designed to burn in an empty space, causing the sound to reverberate through the container. That signaled Yakuma to light the first bomb at the back of the store next to us, catching that one on fire, and subsequently, catching the one we were in on fire, as well. Or at least that is what it would seem like to the outside observer. In actuality, as Nee-chan saw, I laid gunpowder and sake around, then lit it myself so it was slow enough burning for Minamo-chan, us, and the others to get out. Hika and Uzume let off eight more bombs placed between buildings where we had hoped no one was thanks to being drawn by the initial signal. Each of them, and Yakuma, had splashed some lamp oil on the back walls of each building, which they lit right after the explosions to make it look like that was what caused the fires. After everyone did that, they ran around yelling 'Fire' to get people panicked and running. Meanwhile, Uzume broke out the women left behind and Yakuma went with Chibikko to locate all the village girls and check if anyone was hurt."

 

The group glanced at the former red-light district, lighting up the sky in a heated orange. Buildings collapse as the fires chewed through wood turning it to charcoal. The wall kept the fire contained to the rectangular area. Firefighters would not be able to put out that burning inferno.

 

"I knew you liked to burn things, Utsuho-san, what with Hisago* the Magician's tower, and I heard about the sick lord's mansion you set on fire to get that evil itsuwaribito and his men out…yet this is more than I ever imagined," Nee-chan said in awe.

 

"You wish I hadn't done it?"

 

She turned to him and smiled, eyes closed and happy. "I'm glad you did."

 

xXx

 

All of them (meaning the group of eight travelers plus the nineteen village women and girls) camped out tat night as best they could with the few supplies they had. Utsuho was back where he was before—no gunpowder for bombs, and all the bombs he had were gone. It would have been nice to visit Edo; however, they suspected the authorities would be on the lookout for whomever burnt Yoshiwara down to the ground the night before.

 

Therefore, they departed early in the morning. Nee-chan was reunited with Nao, whom had run off in the midst of all the fiery action, only to return when it was safe. The group made due with food by having Uzume hunt a couple of birds or rabbits, and Nee-chan and the other women would gather the necessary ingredients to cook it.

 

During this time, Utsuho was caught up in his own dilemma. His hormones had simmered down quite a bit since that night in the brothel. That did not mean that they were gone. Like he had previously theorized, Utsuho tested his reaction toward Iwashi. When he was around a whole bunch of people, he just did not feel anywhere near being in the "mood". To make sure whether it was the presence of company that made him unreceptive, he had invited the princess with him to gather firewood one day. Alone with the elder seductive girl—in close proximity—his heart beat did not skip a beat, or react in any way at all. There was no rush of desire at the view of her face or breasts or waist or butt or long legs. Nothing.

 

The same went for a rather pretty girl among the villagers whom he similarly offered to help get water for. He figured another test with an attractive strange that he was not immune to seeing nearly naked, like Iwashi, might trigger something. The result was a confused, flustered girl, but no reaction from him. He had even attempted to imagine kissing and touching her, only to be incapable of completing the awkward thought, just like Iwashi. Because such images came to him unbidden when it had been Nee-chan, the girl closest to him at the time, he thought that something would have happened likewise with the princess and the other girl.

 

However, everything was different concerning Nee-chan. Even while in large groups, if his eyes just passed over her by chance when she happened to be walking ahead of him instead of behind, his heart quickened and his gut tightened. Almost as if he was anticipating something. Then there was the single time they had been relatively alone one night, barely a couple yards away from the sleeping campers. Both of them had awoken, and she innocently asked him why he was awake before going to grab some water for her and Nao.

 

His reaction: nearly not answering after getting a slack jaw, and an intense desire coursing through his veins to go after her. His eyes trailed over her clothed shoulders, remembering how elegant they looked, as well as the chest that they led down to; her narrowed waist he had caught when she stumbled blind had been so supple and soft unlike his; those slender legs he could see adorned in those shorts underneath her yukata, with enough of her skin showing to be utterly tantalizing. Those images of things he could do to her, the sounds she would make, came back racing through his mind despite being rejected when it was the other two women. It did not help his kimono had been returned to him smelling of her: peaches and cherry blossoms. The next night he had slept after getting it back, he was surrounded by the alluring, taunting scent even in his dreams.

 

No, he did not dare take her somewhere alone to confirm anything. It was obvious to him that he would want to do much more than confirming. And though Utsuho was confident he could control himself, he knew it would be an unnecessarily torturous experience.

 

So the question that begged to be asked about his apparent bodily attraction to Neya was:

 

What was he to do about it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Delving deeper into Utsuho's speculations on Neya. Just so much chemistry between the two! I can't wait for something to happen in the manga. One of the genres is romance, after all!!!
> 
> Hisago: Utsuho, Neya, Pochi, and Yakuma met this guy in the tower with the old man who was said to perform miracles and grant people's wishes. Hisago was posing as the apprentice along with his men and would take money offerings from the people unbeknownst to the old man. He and his two companions almost managed to escape from being arrested after traveling to a different province, but Utsuho released fliers telling of Hisago running away from his rich, beautiful fiancée for another woman along with a servant, so he could not escape after that.


	14. Neya - Peaceful Days Coming and Going

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their journey continues and Neya's worried about what's going through Utsuho's head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Yep, I'm going for all the way to chapter 15 today. I remember when I wrote an Inuyasha fan fiction and its sequel and demanding that my readers leave five reviews before I would post another chapter. Now, I'm more excited to get along in this story to see what happens next and share it with everyone else! Since this is being written without a great deal of forethought, I don't know how it will end, and I am really letting the story write itself as it goes, so I'm pretty much in the same boat as my readers. We'll all see what awaits at the end!

Traveling had been slow with all the people they had. Many of the women with them were unused to the long walks, so the breaks were numerous. What had taken the bandits and merchant a little over a week transporting them, and Utsuho and the rest two weeks on foot, would likely take them a month at the rate they were going.

 

This did not stop them from deciding to go all the way back, because each of them had agreed it was too dangerous for a large group of defenseless women unaccustomed to traveling to be bay themselves. It was best to see through their duty to the end, to which the villagers were extraordinarily grateful.

 

The calm weather and easy-going walking was doing nothing to ease her thoughts, on the other hand. Neya still owed Utsuho an order, and she was wracking her brain over what he would ask. That he had yet to ask possibly bothered her even more—the suspense would kill her. As soon as she thought she had completely forgotten about it so she could relax, it popped up once more. The situation was not helped by Utsuho's slightly off-kilter behavior lately. Every time she spoke to him in what she believed to be a normal manner, he reacted more suddenly, as if surprised she was talking to him. Not only that, he would look at her for a few seconds, swivel his head back around to the other side and only then reply to her. After that, he would not look at her at all.

 

Neya supposed that they would be at least a _little_ bit weird given she had come to him as a prostitute while he acted the part of a customer. That had been a…different kind of night for the both of them. Although nothing had occurred, the situation had been abnormal for them nonetheless. She only hoped the awkwardness would end soon.

 

xXx

 

On the ninth day of walking as they settled for the night, Neya was assigned to water duty. That was part of what was different with all these women—where it used to be just her doing most of the cooking, now they alternated cooking, getting water, gathering firewood, and finding ingredients.

 

The pot of cast iron metal bumped idly against her thighs as she walked around, searching for a source of fresh water. Alerted by the crunching of twigs and leaves, Neya saw Utsuho approaching.

 

"Utsuho-san?"

 

"I've been sent to find mushrooms," he said while smiling.

 

The two walked side-by-side, scanning the area. Every time he found a patch of mushrooms, he would examine them and pick the ones he knew to not be poisonous. Several minutes later brought them to the best place. What they discovered was a spring nestled into a small rock formation. Moss grew on the rocks, mushrooms clumped together in various places, and moonlight filtering through tree leaves upon the clearing.

 

Neya soaked in the beauty of the seclusive place. How nice it would be to sit there with Minamo-chan and Nao, splashing their feet in the water simply enjoying the day as sunlight, not moonlight, trickled through gently among the shade. Recalling herself from her daydreaming, Neya strolled to the water's edge to dip the pot into the clear water.

 

"It's so beautiful," she said aloud.

 

"Mm, it is a nice little _private_ place," he off-handedly agreed.

 

"Too bad we are just passing through for the night. I'd love to stay here longer," Neya continued to wistfully remark.

 

"Me too," said Utsuho. "Hey, Nee-chan," Utsuho went on just as casually.

 

"Hm?"

 

"You remember the victor's prize for that game of Truth or Dare, right?"

 

Neya faced the trickster. Of course she remembered. It had been plaguing her thoughts for days what he would ask of her. Hopefully it was not anything too embarrassing link drinking tea through her nose was or something. "Yeah, I remember," she cautiously replied.

 

"Well, I've decided…" he said, that foxy grin making his teeth appear to glint from the darkness of night, his opened eyes peering out at her.

 

_'I've got a bad feeling about this.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Yes, super short! I know. Periods like this I have no idea what to write.


	15. Utsuho - Be Gentle, Now…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utsuho has a special request for Neya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Okay, so this is the last chapter that I have written up, so after this it may take a little while to get more chapters up. However, I do believe they should be better quality and longer. Hope you have fun with this one!

 

The grin could not be kept from his face at what he was about to do. Why deny himself?

 

"Well, I've decided…take off your clothes, slowly, where you are."

 

The girl's face reddened, complementing the shade of her hair. He loved that exotic color so much. Who knew that pink could be so unbelievably fetching? At least on her it was.

 

"A-are you sure?" she shyly questioned.

 

"Absolutely." There was no backing out now.

 

Her face spelled out how beautifully embarrassed she was, but she complied very, _very_ slowly by facing her back to him. That's alright, he'd allow her that bit of modesty. Steadily, he approached her, watching those dainty fingers go to untie her obi at her back, shaking all the while. She would not look at him the entire time, and he was fine with that. After he came up to stand right behind her, not touching, her hands inched her outer kimono over her shoulders to drop completely to the ground, pooling at her feet. The dark red kimono beneath that also came to the same fate, exposing her shoulders and back to him.

 

Utsuho took all of it in, moving closer to mould his chest to her back. That pale sakura-colored head just barely reached his chin, so he could smell those delicious peaches and cherry-blossoms right under his nose. Her breathy gasp at his movement encouraged him all the more to teasingly trail the tips of his fingers along the skin of her exposed arms…then lay his palms on her shoulders without putting any weight on them. Leaning his head down to the crook of her neck, she unconsciously tilted her own head to give him more room. For the first time, his lips touched upon her heavenly skin, and all he could think then was he wanted more, **needed** more.

 

His hands continued their journey once more, moving down her back to the sides of her ribcage, farther, farther, farther down to her waist and at last her hips. He splayed his hands flat against her soft belly, reveling in the smooth expanse before going back upward, upward until his hands found those two firm globes that his fingers lightly ghost over, barely touching. The girl in his arms was already panting in small mewls, her head rolling back onto his chest while his tongue, lips, and fingers danced along her skin as sneakily as he did everything else in life.

 

Finally, he gave into temptation, flicking his index fingers over two rosy pink nipples that peaked out, giving him a healthy view of them from his position over her shoulder. Her chest pushed out as she sucked in a large breath at his action. "More…" she sighed out. That was a command he was happy to comply to. Utsuho repeated the action a few more times, growing a bit more urgent with each touch, pushing his fingers a little harder, lips moving up her neck nipping wherever he went, his hips pressing into her back to ease the ache of his hardened member. A hand abandoned its duty of fondling a breast to slide down over her stomach, all the way to edge of those shorts that stood between him and her untouched skin.

 

A finger dipped in beneath the fabric, then another as he pushed it off her hip.

 

"Utsuho…" rang his name from her lips in a sultry sigh.

 

Utsuho's eyes shot open, staring up into the starry night sky.

 

"Exciting dream, Utsuho-kun?"

 

The younger itsuwaribito looked at the immortal cat-like man. More often than not, the group had Hika stand watch at night because he did not need sleep (at least according to him). He had to wonder what had clued in Hika to his nighttime fantasy.

 

Seemingly understanding the reason for his confusion, Hika pointed a finger downward. Ah, that would make it obvious. Utsuho was sporting quite a noticeable tent in his pants. It was not often he found himself embarrassed, especially considering how much of a sense of humor he had, but somehow being seen in such a manner made Utsuho feel juvenile and foolish like in his younger years. That knowing smirk Hika wore did not help any either.

 

Still, that dream had been so incredibly intense. What had really happened after he had told Nee-chan that he had decided was he had said he lied, and that she should look forward to it later. It had been meant to rattle her for fun, as he knew she was likely worrying about his order.

 

The dream, however, had changed to him telling her to strip of all things! He would never do that in real-life, because that was utterly un-gentlemanly. That his subconscious would play with that fantasy bothered him. It had not been unusual, though, for him to have dreams about continuing their session at the brothel, or any situation for that matter.

 

And each time, it abruptly ended before he could get her lower half exposed. Maybe it was from lack of experience and an image?

 

Rather than stupidly sit there thinking about all of his almost-sexual fantasies, Utsuho got up to go splash his face with cold water at the spring.

 

As he passed by Hika, the former-guardian said, "You have to be gentle the first time, so that they can really enjoy it."

 

Utsuho did not care to grant that advice a response.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Wow, my first time trying to write anything that…steamy. Hope you guys don't hate me for the tease! I just knew I wanted to do one of those dreams, but I always hated how authors would put it all in italics or do something so you absolutely would know it wasn't real. I figured to drop hints with Neya's easy compliance, but nothing more than that really. Look out for the next update—I don't know when it will be ready, but I'll try to get it within a week or two at the latest.


	16. Neya - Can You Trust a Fox?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neya considers the company she keeps and tries to teach a lesson in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I'm back! I've got a pretty good idea where to go with this story, so that's good news. I'll probably be able to get these done quicker, too. Anything else I can say is this: I hope people get this chapter. I may have been too stuck in my own head, so we'll see.

 

The late summer sun shone on their heads with a vengeance; soon, the days would become colder and brisk for autumn, but until then Japan was bathed in scorching sunlight and suffocating humidity. Sweat soaked their necks and backs,  and they could practically feel themselves breathing the water steeped in the air. Still the group continued to trudge on to their northward destination. Movement was further halted in order to take water breaks more frequently, leading Neya to believe the original one-month estimate was too short. Already it had been three weeks, so she anticipated at least a couple more.

 

All things said and done, though, she could not find herself all that bothered by the situation. Neya was back with her friends and Nao kept her entertained by running around her in circles or dashing ahead to explore his surroundings. It was utterly adorable how he would suck behind bushes and jump out to surprise her. Or when he went hunting, the fox cub would duck down close to the ground and inch forward carefully, then pounce! He was showing a great deal of progress in his technique. Afterward, similar to a cat, Nao would bring some dead rodent or other to her, showing off his achievement before he devoured it raw.

 

Unfortunately, the presence of the fox cub also worried the villagers, quite often frightening them away when he came near. Some of the women expressed suspicion that the fox was a spirit tricking her into caring for it only to betray her one day when her guard was mostly down. Granted, Neya had traveled with a talking tanuki for a fair amount of time so she herself could not discount spirit-creatures like tanuki and kitsune*, but she was not going to doubt the fox-child simply because of their reputation.

 

How could she, after all, with the human company she kept? Considering her companions, it seemed only fair to give people a chance and trust them because, really, that may be all that they need.

 

There was Iwashi, with a reputation of a selfish princess that banished anything that was not beautiful (i.e. all men). Once Neya got to know her (and got over the love rival thing), Neya found Iwashi to be a very considerate, hard-working person fully concerned about others. She even reminded her of Onihime, whom was thoroughly misunderstood.

 

Yakuma, although a doctor, was distrusted for his employment of surgery, yet he works earnestly to help save his patients even if he had been the one to inflict the damage to begin with.

 

Chouza was the child of a criminal, as his tattoos around his eyes gave away, which led to him being misjudged as a person and going down the path of a criminal, too. Now, however, she sees a caring, older-brother figure to Uzume and Minamo—a good person that had been pushed into being a criminal by others because that is what they had expected of him.

 

Like Chouza, Uzume also seemed to have his own history of being misunderstood as being less than human, teaching him to hate those people who hate him. Given a chance as he was to have people treat him as friend and family, he turned into an honest fool filled with compassion.

 

With them was Minamo, whom people pictured as a monster with demon eyes that always predicted horrible outcomes. The reality: a young girl seeking to help others with her powers by warning them ahead of time.

 

Hikae, Neya would admit, was a bit beyond her understanding. She had initially distrusted him, and the fact that he had murdered freely while allowing himself to be just as freely "killed" confused her greatly; nevertheless, enough time shared with the immortal made her realize he was probably lonely and yearning for people to be with as comrades, too.

 

And then there was Utsuho. A liar through and through. He tricks people at every turn, whether it be friend or foe. To top it off, he was a first-class itsuwaribito. Just by hearing that, people would immediately assume him to be a devious person willing to betray anyone and everyone. No one would be convinced that there was truly such a thing as a good itsuwaribito without seeing him work first-hand. Yet here she was, standing by that itsuwaribito's side through thick and thin, hopelessly in love. She knew that despite all the bad itsuwaribito out there, hers was more giving than most normal people. He comes through for his friends and those in need alike.

 

No matter what people may say to her, Neya would not turn her back on her companions. Same for Nao, she would take care of him and provide the love and care he needs.

 

xXx

 

"Ne, ne, Nee-chan," beckoned Uzume, bounding up to her and scaring Nao into hiding behind her legs.

 

"What is it, Uzume-san?"

 

"I've been wandering lately," he started.

 

"You mean 'wondering'?"

 

"Yeah, that! Since you were in Yoshiwara, you must know all about the things men and women do together, right?" he said eagerly.

 

It went without saying Neya began to blush. "W-well, I didn't _really_ —"

 

"So kissing is what they do, isn't it?" Uzume pressed on more excitedly.

 

"Yes, at first." Neya was going to go on to carefully explaining to the rather naive teen, but did not bother when she noticed he was no longer listening.

 

"Then would you kiss me, Nee-chan?"

 

……

 

"Huh?"

 

"I want to kiss a pretty girl, and so I thought of Nee-chan!" Uzume's face wore an achieved smile, as though he had figured it all out himself.

 

"No, Uzume-san, you can't. I can't. Kissing someone should be done between two people that like each other," she explained gently, hoping he would understand.

 

"I like Nee-chan. Don't you like me?" His face turned down, and Neya felt like she had just kicked a puppy.

 

"I like Uzume-san, but I don't _like_ like you. And I'm pretty sure you don't feel the same way either about me."

 

"Doesn't like-like just mean you really like someone? 'Cause I really like Nee-chan!"

 

This approach was not working. Neya decided on a slight change of tactic.

 

"Do you really like Chouza-san, as well?"

 

"Yeah! But he's a guy, so I can't kiss him."*

 

"See, that's the wrong like, Uzume-san. When you _like_ -like someone, you feel that way for only them. It's a special kind of like for that one person. Therefore, you don't really like-like me since you also feel that way about another."

 

"That's kind of complicated," he said, scratching his head as the information processed. "How do you get to like-like a person then?"

 

"I…don't really know. You're sometimes just around a person a whole bunch and, before you know it, it's happened for whatever reason." The memories of her being told by Yakuma that she treated Utsuho specially before she knew it came back to her, drawing from that experience.

 

"I see. So if I like-like Nee-chan, then I can kiss you?"

 

"N-no, because I have to also like-like you back." Uzume gave her one of his bright, carefree smiles, despite having been told she did not feel that way toward him. Ignorance certainly was bliss in some circumstances.

 

The boy left her to run back to Chouza; the visual of moving so quickly and exaggeratedly in that heat made Neya feel a few degrees warmer. A pressure on her leg brought her attention back down to the leisurely walking fox cub at her feet. She leaned down to pet Nao, his pleading eyes begging for attention. The staff-wielder may have taken her attention briefly, but she would never forget her precious fox.

 

xXx

 

For the remaining two weeks of dreaded sunshine and endless walking, Uzume stuck to her like glue. Wherever in the group she was, there would be Uzume next to her. If she went to gather ingredients, firewood, or water, he would accompany her. He even insisted on lying down near her when they slept! The boy had become her shadow, and she had a sinking suspicion she knew why.

 

When she had inquired to his constant presence for confirmation, he had replied that if he suck by her all the time, he would come to like-like her and she would feel the same. The women that overheard his reasoning giggled at his innocence, even going so far as to making use of his boundless energy to do some work while he hovered around Neya. Some had advised her to consider the white-haired teen (without fox yes, she would glumly add) given how kind and sweet he was. Many of the women knew him from when he had broken them out of burning brothels, so their opinion of him was considerably high. Who would not want such a straightforward and honest man like him?

 

Hazy orange dusk had been approaching when it had happened.

 

Only a day away from the village, the group had stopped in a clearing off the main road completely exhausted. Neya had just claimed her spot beside Minamo for the night.

 

"If Nee-chan's sleeping there, then I'll sleep right here!" he declared as he plopped onto the ground beside her. Honestly, she did not _hate_ having Uzume sleep beside her, but he certainly chit-chatted a lot before bed and frequently shifted around, keeping her awake at times.

 

"Hey Bird Brain! If you keep sleeping next to girls, you'll turn into one." A sandaled foot pressed on the back of Uzume's head, connected to the black-dressed itsuwaribito standing behind him. His expression was neutral, one he used when showing some worry for people that were not Pochi.

 

"You're lying! There's no such thing, Utsuho!!" he indignantly said, though his own face did not mirror his confidence.

 

"It's true. Do you really want to turn into a girl that bad? Because if that's so, then I'll just leave you alone," and Utsuho removed his foot to walk away.

 

Panic spread across Uzume's face, shooting up to follow Utsuho over to where the guys were laid out. If she were not so worried at how gullible Uzume was, Neya would have put more thought into why Utsuho would have done such a thing. Instead, she silently thanked the fox-like itsuwaribito for allowing her to sleep in peace that night.

 

Nao cuddled in next to her, soft fur sliding along her hand.

 

_'Thank you, my dear foxes.'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: There! What'd you guys think? I kind of just wanted to do something cute like this to more thoroughly establish Neya's feelings toward the others.
> 
> kitsune: This is Japanese for "fox" and, like tanuki, can transform themselves and trick humans. I figured it would sound more like the spirit-fox if I left it in Japanese there to differentiate from normal foxes. Everyone remember a certain nine-tailed fox?  
> "Yeah! But he's a guy, so I can't kiss him.": Okay, I know I say I accept flames, but this I do not want any flames for. NO, I am not against boy-love and all that, but since Uzume is so clearly straight as given by the original manga (he's always on about Neya and Iwashi being pretty girls and whatnot) I am going with the logical assumption that he would not want to romantically kiss a boy. I'm sure that eventually, there will be plenty of yaoi fan fiction in this fandom, but this is not the place to find it. So do not get on my case about it. Thank you.


	17. Hikae - Those Envious Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hikae ponders on his lonely nights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Sorry about the wait everyone! (Like the ten people reading this. ^_^; ) By the way, I had happened to be listening to "Dust in the Wind" while writing this at one point, so don't be surprised at the beginning half of the chapter.
> 
> Hope you guys like this added spin!

It really was quite amusing watching the two.

 

One was head-over-heels in love while being epically innocent and naive.

 

Then the other had little clue to his behavior and was trying to write off his overly-imaginative (and erotic) thoughts as another stage of puberty.

 

Hikae had seen his fair share of love-struck couples, so it was not beyond him what was going on with Nee-chan and Utsuho-kun. His once horrendously boring nights became much more interesting with Utsuho's change in attitude toward the sakura-haired girl. Before, his night watches were filled with the unending bore of silence, unless if you count snoring, as he tried to make-up games to entertain himself. Now, however, he could look back at the usually-composed Utsuho-kun and his frantic antics during that day; there were the occasional treats when the boy would wake up confused, flustered, and somehow disappointed, then the tent he would be sporting told Hikae everything he needed to know.

 

Gentle light filtered into the clearing everyone had settled in. Earlier, that fool Uzume had been insistently trying to make his move on Nee-chan with little clue on how to do so. Having failed, Nee-chan slept with Minamo and Iwashi, whom was charming even in her sleep…

 

Hikae shook his head of thoughts of the amusingly eccentric princess. Instead, he focused on the other side of camp to where Utsuho-kun slept with Yakuma, Chouza, and Uzume. To others Utsuho's lie about turning into a woman may have simply been him teasing the fool, but Hikae had been watching long enough to recognize it for what it was: a declaration of ownership.

 

That was the interesting thing about humans, how they do things based on feelings and impulses that surge through their chest or gut without knowing with their head what it meant, like Utsuho had done. It's exactly what love is, if anyone were to think about it; an aching in the heart and clenching in the gut tells a person "I'm in love" even though one cannot really pinpoint when or why it happened, just that it did.

 

The eternally teasing stars in the distant heavens shined above him, ever his night companion. After staring at them for five-hundred years worth of sleepless nights spent in lonesome boredom, he held a love-hate relationship with them (thought it was utterly one-sided). Staring at them in the twilight hours, he had found mild amusement in the shapes he could make, celestial bodies crafted in his mind. Those fanciful beings seemed to mock him in his menial, make-believe immortality—not like the immortality they shared with the earth and oceans and sky and God. It made him feel small, and feeling so insignificant was as bad as being bored.

 

And yet, his eyes slid peacefully back to the very mortal princess, sleeping down on the cold ground of the earth, far from being high in the heavens to be admired by life forms for all of time. Nevertheless, the soft gleam of her skin, the coy gentleness in her eyes she held while awake, and the small smile she always wore shined brighter and more magnificently than any of those pinpricks of light in his eyes. In fact, each one of his companions held their own unique sparkle, and it never bored him to watch them shine day after day.

 

Yes, he decided it was about time to end his one-sided relationship with the stars. They could do what they did all they want, he had grown from their cold company.

 

xXx

 

The next morning was a welcome relief to the travelers. There, before them, stood the town they had left nearly two months prior. Piles of lumber were stacked beside some buildings accompanied by the sound of hammering, indicating the construction going on at those sites. Aside from that, there was little evidence of the bandits ever raiding and half-trashing the town.

 

Women that had long been trudging in exhaustion found renewed energy with just the sight of their home. None of the group moved to stop them as they dashed forward, husbands embracing wives, mothers and fathers embracing daughters. Tears of joy and wails of relief were shared, and Hikae took his time along with the others to appreciate a job well-done.

 

Many of those that had just welcomed back their beloved approached the seven of them.

 

"Thank you very much for saving them," one old man said. "Please, spend the night or even two, and replenish yourselves. If you need anything, just ask."

 

"Then we'll kindly take you up on that offer!" said Utsuho, whom was standing at the head of the group to Hikae's left. "Two of your best rooms! And lots and lots of dango!"

 

The crowd scattered as it heard his "requests" (more like demands, but, who cares?), and Hikae observed as Nee-chan glared at the boy.

 

"Couldn't you have been a bit more polite about asking, Utsuho-san!?" she scolded.

 

His response was to swiftly turn his head away, chin up, mumbling something along the lines of "All that trouble we went through…the least…do is this."

 

Ha. The poor kid was becoming more and more wrapped around her little finger. Pretty soon, Utsuho may actually start  _listening_  to Nee-chan.

 

"Nee-yan, would you care to go see that beauty store we were looking at before being so  _rudely_  interrupted by those bandits?" asked Iwashi.

 

"Sure. Let's go, Minamo-chan! Nao-chan!" The three girls and fox (was that thing already that big?) walked away toward one of the fixed stores, leaving behind the hungry Utsuho and criminal duo, as well as the relatively indifferent doctor. A man ushered them toward his teahouse. The young teenage girl waited there with her mother, eagerly introducing each of her saviors to her parents.

 

The girl was so caught up in her tales that Hikae felt no guilt in sneaking away to see exactly what Iwashi and the others were doing. He found them quickly at the same store front Iwashi had led him to before when they had tried to find Nee-chan and Minamo during the attack.

 

"Ara? Nyan-Nyan, what are you doing over here?" inquired the short-haired girl when she spotted him.

 

"I wanted to see what you three were up to," he answered easily.

 

"Then while Nyan-Nyan is here, would you care to give your opinion?"

 

"Hmm?"

 

Iwashi dragged a surprised Nee-chan over.

 

"Well, what do you think?" said Iwashi expectantly.

 

Without any hint as to what he was supposed to be looking for, Hikae stared at her face first. That was when he quickly noticed a more defined pink color on her lips, the oily paint causing her lips to glisten slightly. It was quite a fetching color on the girl, complementing her pretty pale sakura-colored hair and even matching with her reddish-brown eyes.

 

"It looks good. Utsuho will definitely like it," he said. As soon as the second sentence slipped from his mouth, Nee-chan blushed furiously and hurried away from the two of them.

 

"Then, which does Nyan-Nyan believe would suit me more?" asked Iwashi again, holding up two rouges. One was an orangish-pink and the other a light purple-tinted pink.

 

Hikae carefully considered the two options for ten seconds before searching the shelves for another. He found one, pleased with his selection, and held it up to Iwashi. "I think this one suits you most."

 

Her eyes widened a fraction, picking up the small container of creamy pink rouge. The princess gazed back up at him, then gave her small smile as she hid it behind her fan, that coy gentleness sneaking back into her eyes. The sight shocked his heart into thumping hard and heavy in his chest for a few moments. He kept a casual face for, though he would admit to having feelings for her just as Utsuho had for Nee-chan, Hikae still had enough of his mind to not let his inner thoughts show.

 

The four of them (plus Nao) left the shop ten minutes later. Regardless of what Nee-chan had insisted, the shop owner refused to be paid for the rouges the three girls chose. Hikae could not quite understand Nee-chan's reluctance to receive a gift of gratitude for free, but he did not say anything the entire time. He wholeheartedly agreed with the saying that a man would never understand the way a woman's mind worked no matter how long he lived.

 

Afterwards, they returned to Utsuho and the others stuffing themselves with tea and dango.

 

"Hika, Nee-chan, Hime-san, Chibikko! Come get some before they're all out " shouted a happy Utsuho.

 

"Oh?" Yakuma fixed his sight on Nee-chan, "Neya, that's a very fitting color of lip rouge." The ease at which the doctor not only noticed, but complimented her from that distance convinced Hikae that, had Yakuma not loved another, he would make a natural playboy.

 

"Thank you," she said, just barely missing Utsuho's intense gaze on her lips before ducking his head to eat more dango. When she finally turned to see his reaction a mere half-a-minute later, the girl's head drooped a bit and her smile faltered as the boy seemed to have no other concern than eating. Hikae almost felt bad for Nee-chan for being so clueless had he not been confident that one day the two of them would eventually wake-up and smell the roses. Until then, she would endure as she always had.

 

"Since we are heading to Kyoto, I was talking to the shop owner about the best ways to get there," began Utsuho after gulping down another dango. "He gets a lot of merchants coming through here, so he hears a lot. According to him, the quickest way to get there is to go west to Niigata and take a ship south to the closest port near Kyoto, then travel the rest of the way by foot."

 

"Sounds like fun. I haven't been out at sea for several decades," said Hikae.

 

While they were all settling down to eat, Hikae idly thought,  _'I wonder how many of these guys get seasick.'_

 

Chuckle.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Okay, I am too tired to write much. Please read and review!


	18. Iwashi - Is "Cute" Quite Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iwashi is always watching her beloved Utsuho, and she's noticed some of the changes in him, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I have finally been more inspired! I guess Hikae was just hard for me to get in his head, and there simply was not a lot going on in the story at that moment. If there is a next time, then hopefully there will be more stuff happening. Just so no one gets confused about who Iwashi is referring to, here is a chart of nicknames she has for the people in the group:  
> Utsuho: Utsuho-sama  
> Yakuma: Isha-sama  
> Neya: Nee-yan  
> Hikae: Nyan-Nyan  
> Uzume: Tori-san (Bird-san)  
> Chouza: Tefu-Tefu  
> Minamo: Minamon  
> Nao: Kitsuchi ("kitsune" means "fox", and occasionally, "-chi" is added to the ended of a name to make it sound cute)

It was a different look, she decided.

 

Many men ogled and granted her admiring looks for her radiant beauty, this she was well aware of and had even used to her advantage. Yet, those peeled eyes were shallow in meaning, intent on dirtying her perfect body with lecherous hands, fulfilling their own filthy pleasures. Maybe it was really because Utsuho-sama did not ever direct such eyes toward her that she fell in love. His gaze had been kind and undemanding, and it drew her in at the Village of Brides.

 

However, it was not that look Iwashi believed to be different. No, it was the one her dear and precious Utsuho-sama gave to Nee-yan when the girl was not looking. There were definitely hints of lust and desire there, but also something more. And whenever Nee-yan met his eyes, he redirected his attention elsewhere. It was the strangest thing to behold of Utsuho-sama.

 

In fact, his behavior as of late had overall been strange. Iwashi had not missed how he had helped her and one of the village girl's errands two days in a row. Nor did she miss the riveted stare he gave to herself, as though in deep thought before he would turn away when he did not find his answer. Even more so, he appeared to have needlessly stopped Tori-san from sleeping beside Nee-yan, an innocent act for the experienced criminal whom was a novice-in-love.

 

The long trip after leaving Yoshiwara was filled with Utsuho-sama generally avoiding her love rival. At first, Iwashi thought it would be her chance to get closer to the silver-haired itsuwaribito while he distanced himself from the pink-haired one. This seemed to be anything but the case as Utsuho-sama became more lost in thought, unheeding of those around him. Through all of this, it was a welcome change of pace when they arrived at the town where the women belonged before they were taken to Yoshiwara—just thinking about such a hideous place sickened Iwashi, especially all the disgusting things those greedy men would do to those poor women. She held no regret that Utsuho-sama burned that place to the ground.

 

Iwashi watched the current scene unfolding in front of them. Utsuho-sama had requested for dango (he deserved it, and she would make some for him if she could) and then Nee-yan scolded him for his lack of manners. Instead of coming up with the usual sharp and witty comeback as per usual, he looked elsewhere while weakly mumbling some complaint.

 

Oh my, the bad feeling she was getting grew with his response. Nee-yan's words held so much weight for her beloved, but what was she to do? The two of them were love rivals for Utsuho-sama's affection! Nevertheless, she would not get spiteful of her friend and rival for behaving as she always did.

 

It simply meant the princess would have to try harder! Which meant…

 

"Nee-yan, would you care to go see that beauty store we were looking at before being so _rudely_ interrupted by those bandits?"

 

"Sure. Let's go, Minamo-chan! Nao-chan!" Nee-yan gathered up the two little ones, tagging along on the short walk to the shop, unsure if it was open again yet.

 

To their luck, fresh boards adorned the shop front and walls. Pretty wares and trinkets were laid out once more and the old shop lady was advising a customer. When she finished and turned to see them, the gray-haired woman shuffled over in glee.

 

"I remember you girls! You were here during that whole dreadful incident. I'm so glad you were able to make it out safely, even bringing all those girls back with you. Thanks to you dears, my daughter was able to go back other husband and son." Tears began to leak from the corners of the old woman's wrinkled eyes, her voice shaking lightly. "I was so worried. Thank you."

 

Beside her, Nee-yan smiled comfortingly. "We're glad we got everyone back safely, too. All of us try to help those people that the law cannot." Ah, if she recalled correctly, her friend was using Utsuho-sama's words.

 

"Really?" asked the shopkeeper. "Well, it must be nice having all those boys follow you girls around helping you out as soon as you scream. So, tell me which ones do you two plan to marry?" she asked, the lure of romantic gossip making the elder giddy and conspiratorial.

 

"Eh!?" Nee-yan squeaked out, blushing to her roots. "W-we—"

 

"We are love rivals for Utsuho-sama, the dashing silver-haired man in our group. I left my village and joined everyone even to marry my beloved future husband," Iwashi proudly stated.

 

"Oh?" The gleam in the woman's eye grew as she raptly listened to her.

 

"Nee-yan also bears such affections for Utsuho-sama, so we both try hard to be our best and most beautiful for him to attain his attention. Thus, we have returned here to find some flattering cosmetics or ornaments for ourselves."

 

"Oh my!" the woman was nearly bouncing in excitement. Nee-yan, on the other hand, felt the need to hide her face behind her hands. Kitsuchi worriedly looked at his owner from next to her knees. "Help yourselves, then, dears! Don't hold back!" They were shooed over to the main cosmetics area where Iwashi brought them back to the rouge section.

 

"Ara, where is the color we found for you before, Nee-yan?—Ah!" Iwashi picked up the same little compact and, without asking Nee-yan or the shopkeeper, dabbed her finger in the colored oil. "Hold still." The younger girl complied before realizing Iwashi's intentions. Her coated finger swiped against Nee-yan's lips, covering them in a charming pale pink. "There!"

 

"Hime-sama, you could at least warn me before you do something like that."

 

"I did," was the princess' only response. The shopkeeper happily held a mirror up for Nee-yan to see herself.

 

"It looks nice, but it's hardly noticeably," said Nee-yan, convinced that it would not be catching anyone's attention.

 

"Hush now! Men flock to a woman with even something as simple as done-up lips when the right color is chosen!" the shopkeeper said, yet still to no effect.

 

Iwashi did not really want to outright say that Utsuho-sama was always looking at her when his head was not in the clouds and that he would undoubtedly notice the difference; it would feel like she was telling the girl Utsuho-sama's secret, one that he was trying hard to keep. Still, she did not want the girl to be so discouraged about her chances. Recalling Nee-yan's despondent behavior at the hot springs (what seemed like years ago now) upset Iwashi, too, and that was all around bad for her complexion! She wanted a fierce love rival, not a quitter. How, then, could she convince her?

 

Just as Iwashi was facing her dilemma, Nyan-Nyan walked in.

 

"Ara? Nyan-Nyan, what are you doing over here?" She would have thought he was eating with Utsuho-sama since he tended to gravitate toward his best friend most of the time.

 

"I wanted to see what you three were up to," he said. Suddenly, Iwashi had an idea.

 

"Then while Nyan-Nyan is here, would you care to give your opinion?"

 

"Hmm?"

 

It was perfect! He was a man and Nyan-Nyan thought the most similarly to Utsuho-sama out of everyone in their group, so his word would hold more weight. She came up to Nee-yan whom had been browsing some hairpins with Minamon, grabbed her arm, and dragged her back over to where the immortal waited.

 

"Well, what do you think?" The princess held her fan to her chin, closely observing the movement of his cat-like eyes and his relaxed stance. Nyan-Nyan had that perpetual cat-grin, of course, as he searched for the difference. At times, his entire lax demeanor made Iwashi want to put his fluffy head in her lap and pet him to see if he purred.

 

"It looks good. Utsuho will definitely like it," he said with ease. 

 

Hmmm…it would seem Nyan-Nyan was also well aware of Utsuho-sama's recent behavior, and he even came out and suggested toward it! Meanwhile, Nee-yan flushed far more than before without offering any rebuke to his words. She hurried back over to Minamon, Kitsuchi's tail brushing against Iwashi's legs as he followed. Iwashi let her run off, thoroughly pleased with how her plan managed to work.

 

"Then, which does Nyan-Nyan believe would suit me more?" she asked, grabbing an orangish pink and a light purplish pink rouge in her left hand to hold them up for his cat-eyes to see. His slitted pupils slid from one container to the other like a curious kitten. Then, his head shifted toward the shelves carrying all of the other compacts.

 

Nimble, thin fingers, fingers she was sure that had been drenched in his prey's blood many times before, elegantly and gently plucked up a single container. It was a simple thing, a creamy pink that was inconspicuous unlike the rest, more likely to blend in with the skin than to stand out from it. "I think this one suits you most," Nyan-Nyan said with his easy confidence.

 

The implication in his choice was not lost on Iwashi. The effect of the action was not as significant and surprising as when Utsuho-sama had presented her that mirror, somehow managing to appear regal and gentlemanly as he did it; rather, Nyan-Nyan came off as unfettered yet convinced even in his cozy feline manner that he exhibited just by complimenting her natural beauty. Her heart fluttered lightly, touched by how…adorable? he was being. The twitching temptation in her lips was too strong to fight so she hid the emerging smile behind her fan. The princess knew that she was not blushing, but she felt a warmth in her chest as she lifted the item out of his hold. It was hard to ignore the feeling of his trained eyes (was it like a predator watching his prey walk away to live another day? she wondered) on her back while she walked over to the shopkeeper along with Nee-yan and Minamon.

 

The old woman gave the three girls the rouges for free to Iwashi's delight. For saving her daughter from prostitution, though, it was only fair. Nee-yan's complaints were very confusing for her. They bid her farewell to the old woman, whom wished them both good luck, and joined back with Utsuho-sama at the tea shop.

 

"Hika, Nee-chan, Hime-san, Chibikko! Come get some before they're all out!" shouted a pleased Utsuho-sama. Finally, he was focusing on the here and now. Even when eating, he was endearing.

 

"Oh?" Isha-sama said subtly, being more of an observant friend to Nee-yan than her, focused immediately on the younger girl, "Neya, that's a very fitting color of lip rouge." Honestly, Iwashi did not want to say anything aloud, but the doctor truly was too aware of aesthetics and too pretty to be a man (he was able to fool her eyes the first time meeting him, after all), and it came off as a motherly encouragement to Nee-yan. No doubt he would be insulted if she said that, thus her reason for keeping silent.

 

"Thank you," said Nee-yan. Because her eyes were trained on Utsuho-sama out of habit, she saw the brief intensity of her beloved's stare on her love rival. That was the look, she realized, that she wanted on her—so full of a longing beyond just lust. It was gone soon after though, her analysis of the mysterious look finished.

 

"Since we are heading to Kyoto, I was talking to the shop owner about the best ways to get there," began Utsuho-sama. "He gets a lot of merchants coming through here, so he hears a lot. According to him, the quickest way to get there is to go west to Niigata and take a ship south to the closest port near Kyoto, then travel the rest of the way by foot."

 

"Sounds like fun. I haven't been out at sea for several decades," chimed in Nyan-Nyan. The first image that came to her mind at his words was a cat on a boat with its hair sticking on end hissing at the water. Obviously, Nyan-Nyan was not a feline in reality, yet she found it difficult to imagine him any other way. It made the thought of going on a boat for the first time all the more interesting.

 

Making sure not to sunburn her perfect skin was a whole other thing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: I was so happy to see that there were two new chapters for Itsuwaribito Utsuho this morning when I woke up. It's been months, and I was worried the scanlators had dropped the project. I had started writing this chapter yesterday, so maybe this was my reward for getting right back to "Tricked Trickster"? Either way, I'm happy!
> 
> Also, thank you to my few reviewers! I love you all for coming and finding this story in the dark, unexplored corners of the Internet. It makes me glad to know that I really am writing to someone.
> 
> I'm excited for the next chapter, so I am going to start on that once I post this one. See you!


	19. Utsuho - It's a Misunderstanding!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group heads to Niigata to get on a boat and an interesting passenger gets on with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Wow, I just sat down and wrote this chapter all the way through, and that was ten notebook pages. I really like this chapter mostly because I have missed doing Utsuho's point-of-view. Let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did!
> 
> Also, any flames are welcome, too. Just go ask Utsuho for some gunpowder and a lighter, because we all love pyro-Utsuho.

His mind was clouded by the intense heat of a summer that could not let go for fall. However, the relief Utsuho felt at not having to wait for a whole herd of travel-weary girls made up for it. His group was back to its normal pace.

 

And it was a bit easier to forget about Yoshiwara with the reminders (in the form of people coming back from the place) out of the way. Really, he had kept thinking about that very _hot_ night with Neya whenever he thought of the place, which he though of whenever he saw those women. Now, the only reminder was the person herself.

 

It slightly irritated Utsuho how unaware Neya was of his new attitude toward her. Not only that, she practically encouraged Uzume to hang around her every moment of every day! He had finally gotten fed up with the idiot's persistence and closeness, and had tricked him into sleeping back with the guys. The ex-criminal was far too close to the girl for his liking.

 

Utsuho mentally shook his head since doing it physically would draw his companions' attention. Getting to Niigata was still a few days away and they were currently in a comfortable state of silence. This left him alone to his thoughts for a long time. The reason he wanted to shake his head was because he knew he was being somewhat of a fool himself. He had not at all thought about what to really do with Neya once he realized his more serious attraction toward her. Honestly (he tended to only be honest with himself, or tried) though, Utsuho could not se himself confessing to her or anything—he _was_ able to imagine numerous ways she could react to said confession.

 

Well, he could imagine, but he did not know for sure. In one scenario, she twiddles her fingers nervously while blushing, being skeptically shy of him. He likes to think of taking her tangled fingers and biting them before—

 

Agh! Sidetracked again! Focus, focus…

 

In another scenario, she is really exuberant and happy with his words, bouncing up and down, then leaps onto him to seal the deal with a scorching kiss with her legs wrapping around his hips—

 

Ugh, she would not act like that, only Fantasy Neya would be so generous.

 

Yes, he had named her "Fantasy Neya". The girl he knew in real life was running through his thoughts so frequently he had to give a name to his mind's temptress. Fantasy Neya would be a fickle character depending on his dream, whether it was sleeping or waking. Sometimes she was shy yet accepting, allowing him to take charge; other times she was aggressive and forceful, doing various _favors_ for him…

 

All the more reason why there was no way on Earth, Heaven, or Hell he would even _breathe_ any of his imaginings to the real Neya, or anyone for that matter. His mind came back to the real world for the moment, watching the girl-in-question just walking in front of him. No suggestive swaying of the hips or movements or stares or sounds, perfectly preoccupied with her own thoughts with her faithful fox walking in time with her.

 

He generally tried to stand behind Neya these days, not because he wanted to stare at her unabashedly, but so he would not have to see her face if he ever turned his head. Ever since she had gotten that damnably tempting lip paint, he could not look at her lips without coming up with ten different things he could do with them. He had had to focus on his dango the first time and force himself to think how delicious the dango were to banish away the thoughts that had begun to lead to a hard-on under the table. That would have been outrageously awkward.

 

Suddenly, Utsuho wanted to smack himself for how easily he became sidetracked in his thoughts. He was supposed to be clear-thinking and level-headed! When was the last time a single thing had managed to get his thoughts in such a mess?

 

That would have been…the time his family was murdered. Those were thoughts he had no desire to dwell on. Rather, he at last got back to the main issue. Should he approach Neya about how he has been reacting to her presence lately? After all, he was not quite sure if his feelings went beyond lust and could qualify as a romantic "love". In that area, he was a complete novice.

 

Maybe then that is what he should do. Since he was so uncertain toward everything aside from his bodily reactions, Utsuho should leave the situation be. Neya confessed that one time and never brought it up again. They were looking for the Kokonotsu, which was everyone's top priority, so he should make it his sole priority.

 

He still had a thousand people or more to help. These complicated developments with Nee-chan could wait.

 

**xXx**

 

The refreshing smell of salt water reached their noses well before the sight of the sea did. The trip had been simple without any problems and, after making up his resolve to concentrate on getting the Kokonotsu, Utsuho already felt amazingly refreshed.

 

The amount of his dreams involving Fantasy Neya had decreased and become more innocent. His mind was more centered the story of the fool who received the Kokonotsu and God, who was also the Liar. It was so pleasing to be able to think straight again!

 

The nine of them continued on the main road heading into Niigata. They crested a hill, pausing at the top to take in the view.

 

"I had heard the sea was beautiful, but this is greater than what I thought," said Iwashi appreciatively.

 

"The sea is a place of much fascination for humans. Sailors work hard traveling upon vast waters, some devoting their whole lives because they fall in love with it more than they would with a woman," Yakuma explained with a content smile as he gazed out.

 

"Stop getting sentimental there, Okaan," Utsuho teased. "No one wants to hear about your doomed unrequited love and how you abandoned it for water."

 

"That's not—!"

 

"Yeah, Isha-kun, leave your depressing thoughts out of this," came in Hikae.

 

"Stop teasing him and let's get going!" Nee-chan interrupted.

 

"Nee-chan, you don't seem all that incensed," Uzume said.

 

"You mean 'impressed'," Chouza put in helpfully.

 

"Well, I lived on an island for several years, so I got pretty used to the sight," she explained as she began going downhill with Nao.

 

"When we get into town, I wish to buy a kimono," stated Iwashi, recognizing the end to the other conversation.

 

"Eh!? Why!?" whined Uzume. "You'll be covered up then!"

 

"Bad Uzume," said Minamo, taking her role of keeping Uzume from being perverted very seriously.

 

"Ara, I don't want my skin to be harmed by the sun, of course, Tori-san." Uzume looked like he was going to whine some more when Minamo pulled on his sleeve.

 

Going downhill allowed for the group to get to the city of Niigata quickly. It was not as large or grand as Kyoto; regardless, it was just as lively. Fish vendors lined the main market streets, all selling the freshest fish. They had to keep wandering farther in to another part of the market where the general stores were located. Iwashi found a fabric store to her liking with pre-made kimono and pulled Nee-chan with her while the rest of them waited across the street getting some fried fish.

 

From the corner of his eye, Utsuho was able to see what the two girls were doing due to the open store fronts. He casually watched as Iwashi flittered around from one cloth pattern to another, observing and feeling them and trying some on. Nee-chan was not as involved, merely strolling around as she peered at the fabrics and kimono on display. Occasionally, she would turn toward Iwashi, her mouth moving as she most likely gave her brief opinion. The younger girl did not make any move to touch anything, going at a very leisurely pace; although he did note she kept going back to one spot in the store and gazed wistfully at a particular kimono. He could not see the details from his distance, but he could tell it was a dark pink with some white pattern.

 

A few minutes later, another woman came up beside Nee-chan, said something as she felt the kimono, then called the shopkeeper over. The stranger continued talking to Nee-chan, who responded with a polite smile. The woman was a bit taller than Nee-chan, more elegantly dressed, Utsuho noted, and most likely considered a classic Japanese beauty. He did not think too much on the woman, though he felt bad for Nee-chan when the woman purchased the kimono and they both watched as it was wrapped. Graciously, Nee-chan waved good-bye to the stranger and returned to Iwashi's side. By that time the princess appeared to have finally chosen a sea-green fabric and was moving toward the back to get changed.

 

When the two of them at last came back, they were all finishing their fried fish.

 

"How is this, Utsuho-sama?" Iwashi asked, twirling around in her new sea-green-and-whitish-blue-camellia-patterned kimono.

 

"It looks good," he said, a little more noncommittally than the last time she asked if some piece of clothing suited her.

 

"If you fall into the water, we won't be able to find you," joked Hikae.

 

"I will try my best to make this a good boat ride," she said in response. She had determination, Utsuho would give her that. "Besides, Nyan-Nyan, I am more worried of how you would be in the water."

 

"Huh?" the immortal asked, clearly confused by the statement.

 

"Do you two want to eat while we get provisions for the trip?" Yakuma asked, moving the conversation along.

 

"If it isn't too much of a bother," Nee-chan answered. With that, the boys (and Minamo) had their food paid for and left the girls to eat.

 

Mainly, they went around buying dried foods like jerseys and fruit (Yakuma demanded they bring plenty of fruit), as well as jugs of fresh water. It's an ironic thing that one could be surrounded by water and not be able to drink any of it.

 

By the time they got back, Iwashi and Nee-chan and the ever elusive Nao were waiting in front of the restaurant patiently. After rejoining, they all headed to the harbor in search of a passenger boat heading south to a place called Saikaichi*. According to some of the sailors, that was a very common route for people to take, so there was a ship heading there everyday. The next one was that day at 4 o'clock. That was a couple of hours away, so all of them felt comfortable exploring for a bit in the immediate area then come back to wait for departure. It seemed this was a rather common occurrence for passengers nice the harbor was lined with various small shops for quick viewing purposes. They saved their money though, browsing the goods without any intent to purchase.

 

A horn was blown, catching their attention, followed by someone yelling "Barge to Saikaichi toward Kyoto is boarding and will depart in half-an-hour!!"

 

There were no problems in getting on the boat, walking along the wooden plank that clattered a little with each step. The boat itself was wide and beige with an expansive deck and two open cabins on the front and back for passengers to sit under a roof if desired. Crates were stacked in some places, too, casting long shadows from the afternoon sun. Iwashi opted for sitting in one of these spots, and the rest settled down near her. Utsuho took note of Chouza's liberal use of his long sleeves for covering his face, notably his mouth. He had never pegged the poison expert for one to get seasick.

 

It should be fun, though.

 

Departure was quite an affair, what with all the yelling sailors and shifting of the sails and creaking mast. Chouza was beginning to look as green as his hair already. Minamo noticed her brother-figure's predicament and patted him on the back. Utsuho was just thinking about ways he could use this to his advantage to prank Chouza (maybe even get Yakuma in, too) when the woman from the kimono store appeared with a few other men and women.

 

"Neya-san? What luck that we would be on the same ship!" she said to Nee-chan. The woman sat down near her, motioning for the others to do the same.

 

"Akane-san, you never mentioned you were heading to Saikaichi. It's good to see you again after such a short time," Neya said, smiling.

 

Utsuho took in the profile of 'Akane-san' and confirmed to himself that she was a classic beauty. Long, glossy black hair, pale porcelain skin, large almond-shaped black eyes, and painted red lips. Her manner was graceful and well-practiced.

 

If only he could get into those types, pretty women he saw come and go, he could get the hots for them and then they would leave, and he would forget them over time. With Neya, she was so unique and always _there_ so he could never get away from her for long enough.

 

"Who are your friends, Neya-san," Akane asked.

 

"Well, you already met Iwashi-hime-sama, then there's Minamo-chan, and little Nao-chan," Akane seemed to be wary of the fox, "Chouza-san, Uzume-san, Yakuma-san, Nibyo-san, and Utsuho-san."

 

"'Utsuho'?" the pretty woman stared at Utsuho closely. "Do you perhaps mean Azako Utsuho…from the Village of Orphans?"

 

"Yeah, you know me?" he replied, suspicious about how she knew that much.

 

"Oh my—I'm Satsuma Akane! I was adopted from the Village of Orphans about five years ago. My new family was a group of entertainers. Don't you remember? How is Osho-sama doing?" she said excitedly.

 

The gears began turning in his head trying to remember a "Satsuma Akane", so he decided to answer her more obvious question first. "Gramps died 'bout a year ago."

 

"Oh no," she said, her previous excitement dimming.

 

"Don't worry about it…He died smiling."

 

"I'm so sorry to hear about that, but at least he was happy."

 

Yeah…Utsuho did not really want to start laying out the truth on that one.

 

"So did you two play together a lot in the village?" asked Yakuma, successfully diverting the topic. He was always very keen on noting when to do that.

 

The woman laughed as she remembered, her shoulders shaking faintly. "When we were still really young, Utsuho played pranks on everyone in the village, and I mean _everyone_. No child or adult or animal was spared. Well, it wasn't until we were a bit older and around that age where girls think about boys and vice versa that we were each others' first loves."

 

Wait, what!?!

 

The girl giggled as she lost herself in thought, and looking more closely, her face finally clicked. He recalled a girl he nicknamed "Kane" like the bell. This was the girl he began picking on specifically when he hit puberty and eventually had his first and second and third and a few more kisses with. He had thought she was the prettiest one of his age range, so he had set his sights on her. Maybe it was his young male confidence that told him he had to have the best girl if he was going to have any at all. But he didn't recall anything about her being his so-called "first love".

 

Around him, he saw a few shocked faces. Yakuma was certainly one, and Uzume's attention was all ears and eyes, probably jealous of Utsuho, no doubt. Chouza was too seasick to care and Minamo barely ever had any expressions that he could tell. Iwashi held her fan over her mouth with wide eyes that said she had not seen that one coming. Hikae was Hikae and just watched in amusement, his eyes darting between himself, Akane, and Neya. And Neya…

 

"Yes, he would sneak me away somewhere and kiss me. At that age, I would get so flustered over a small peck." Her blush emphasized her embarrassment. "But then a family came and wanted to adopt me, and I did not want to give up that opportunity so I went with them." Here, she paused to stare pityingly at Utsuho. "I am so sorry for having left you at such short notice, Utsuho. I really had wanted to stay with you. It's just that I wanted a family even more."

 

What in the world was she talking about!? She talked as if he was deeply in-love with her at thirteen-years-old! He had gotten over it really fast and lived out the worst of puberty satisfied that he had explored enough of the opposite sex. His mind had quickly set itself back on developing ingenious pranks on anyone and outwitting people. But he couldn't say that—that would be uncool.

 

"We were kids. I bounced back," he said trying not to sound too indifferent or bummed about it.

 

He made the mistake of glancing at Neya again to find her staring at her lap with her hands folded neatly together, unmoving. Dammit! It's a misunderstanding! He would be a thousand times more depressed if Neya left his life! he wanted to tell her.

 

……

 

……

 

Did he really just think that?

 

"Where are you headed to once you get to Saikaichi, Utsuho?" Akane asked sweetly. Ugh, he knew where this was going.

 

It'd be really weird if he lied right there, but he did not want her following along with them. Why did the boat already have to leave the harbor?

 

"Kyoto."

 

In his musings, he stared at Nee-chan when she answered. That was unexpected. Her head had lifted up straight and she was wearing a smile that he could not tell if it was real or forced, then repeated, "We're headed to Kyoto, Akane-san." There were times he forgot that Nee-chan _did_ have experience lying as an itsuwaribito. There was a reason she was able to trick him once before.

 

Huh, he did not have as much of a problem admitting that now than before.

 

"That's wonderful! So are we. We are going to be at the theaters for a few weeks. What is Neya-san headed there for?"

 

"We're trying to find someone who works there," Yakuma provided for her.

 

"Hmm? What for?" Wouldn't she stop butting into their business?

 

"They have something we would like."

 

Okay, Yakuma made that sound like they were criminals heading out to rob someone. If it got her out of their hair, though, he'd pull the psycho-murderer routine gladly. He was not comfortable with Akane talking to Nee-chan anymore. All he needed now was for Iwashi to proclaim her goal of making him her husband and things would be just _peachy_.

 

Somehow, he had the sneaking suspicion that his plan of ignoring his emotions for Neya was being ruined.

 

**xXx**

 

As he had feared, Akane kept pestering Utsuho, talking about their days in the village—especially the ones where he shamelessly allowed his hormones to take control and make the past-mistake of kissing her. He would readily admit to himself that it was a stupid thing he did back then, and now he was deeply regretting it.

 

The beautiful entertainer did not hold back in showing him she could be quite bold. His best defense against Akane's obvious advances was to be around others. Even so, that did not stop her from brushing her fingers against his arm indiscreetly, nor prevent her from being at his side at all times. Utsuho had not even dared to check the expressions on Neya's face when Akane was hovering closely to him, not even checking to see if she caught the woman's hidden moves.

 

What was incredibly worrisome was Akane's attempts to pull him behind the stacks of crates and whisper suggestions of picking up where they left off five years ago.

 

In those moments, he would think about what he wouldn't give for Neya to constantly place herself at his side, those skillful fingers that could imbed kunai into her opponents ghosting just above the flesh of his arms through his sleeves; tucking them away into unoccupied corners to whisper in his ear hotly through those pale pink painted lips. Instead, the reality was she was avoiding him like the plague, not even looking in his direction, and consistently keeping company with Yakuma unless if Uzume was forcing himself in her space again.

 

Uzume was one annoyance that Utsuho could tolerate since Neya was not voluntarily seeking him out, yet Yakuma—! Why did she always go to him, why not Iwashi and Minamo!? It kept bugging him, reminding him with a vengeance of that night at the hot springs of the two friends' embrace. It also brought a frightening thought to mind: What if Neya, discouraged by his supposed ongoing lack of interest in her despite her confession months ago, fell in-love with Yakuma and he returned the sentiment because of his own discouraging love? That would be horrible! was what his gut was screaming at him.

 

And very possible, to his misfortune. Waiting around to get the Kokonotsu may not be quite a good option anymore.

 

Be that as it may, with this, he understood that he did not just want Neya in a physical sense. He realized he wanted her to care about him first and foremost. No, he wanted her to only care about him, no matter how selfish that was. And he wanted her to understand that it's only her for him, so she would not have to worry or feel sad or insecure, because he would always be there for her.

 

……

 

_'Isn't this what people call_ "love" _?'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Some may note that Utsuho switches between "Nee-chan" and "Neya"—this is him thinking of her as his regular travel companion/friend for the first one, and the second is when he is thinking of her in a more intimate manner because he is acknowledging his serious feelings. Also, I was thinking about the passenger ship from Basilisk the anime.
> 
> Saikaichi: Totally made-up town just for the purpose of having a place to go to with a name. I decided to use the on-yomi (Chinese readings) of the kanji for "West", "sea", and "ground/earth". 西海地
> 
> Yay! Utsuho is finally maturing and learning about love! You guys all know who we will be looking at next chapter!


	20. Neya - The Enemy of Love Is Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neya meets Akane in the fabric shop, and her side of the boat ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Okay, I'm going to be honest with everyone. Lately, yes, I have been busy with full-day and half-day work shifts, violin lessons, going to someone's graduation on the 20th, and so on.
> 
> However, I also received my shipment on the 20th so when I got home I became completely absorbed with that in my free time. You may ask what that shipment was, and it was, indeed…
> 
> The final ten volumes of Itsuwaribito Utsuho 14-23 in the original Japanese tankobon.
> 
> Yes, I was really impatient for the scanlators to finish, so I went ahead and bought them myself. My intention was to translate them so I could send the translations to the scanlators and they could get chapters up much more quickly. So, I started translating volume 14 but…I found that it takes a lot of time to go from Japanese to English unless if you are really used to it. My translation rate was basically 2 chapters a day, and I was working on these for hours. On the third day, when I was near done with the sixth chapter (each volume has ten chapters with exception to the first and last ones), I was really tired and about to go to bed but got really curious what would happen next. So, I tried reading it without typing out the translation or anything, and found…voila! I am surprisingly more adept at reading Japanese straight out than I thought, and finished the last four chapters within half-an-hour or so. From there, I read the next nine volumes in three days and finished on last Thursday morning after pulling three late-nighters. 
> 
> Yes, I have read all of Itsuwaribito Utsuho. Now, I won't say anything pertaining to the plot. I won't give any spoilers. As for "Tricked Trickster", it shall be written as I had outlined it before I had read ahead, so there will not be any spoiler elements. Do not worry about that.
> 
> As for the translations, I will be going back to those with some help from my brother so we can go volume-by-volume, and hopefully somehow send the translations to the scanlators, because I have no means of scanning and editing manga that way nor the time to do it. I hope to have the series fully scanlated soon for everyone's sakes and then, for sure, there will be more material for fan fiction in this fandom.
> 
> Also, with this chapter, I have surpassed 100 written pages of this story! I need to scrounge up some more paper soon…
> 
> Anyway, read and review as always! I have noticed that this story has gotten more views recently, and that makes me really happy!

Life was hot in those summer days. Not that it wasn't something Neya was not used to. Nadeshiko Island was down south, so hot days had been common for her before she left with Utsuho and Yakuma.

 

Thankfully, they had deposited the village women back in their homes. Her heart was warmed by the fact they were able to save them—and her, for that matter. More than anything, she knew she could not have stayed in Yoshiwara without doing anything drastic. In hindsight following their rescue, Neya analyzed the situation she had been in, trying to figure out a method of escape for herself and Minamo had Utsuho not been there.

 

Some of her ideas were farfetched and outright crazy, but she had at least one seemingly viable plan. Needless to say, it was not on the level of burning down Yoshiwara, so her plan would have only saved her and Minamo. Yet she could see herself faking some deadly disease, warding off customers and discouraging the old bat from keeping her. Then, in her moments of pretend weakness lying sick in bed with Minamo attending her, the two would take a "short" walk outside in the early morning hours before dawn for some fresh air. Coddling herself in a blanket or two while hiding her kunai under them, Minamo would help support her outside where they would sneak away in the alleys all the way to the closest wall that caged in the district. From there it would be a simple matter of making her blankets into a makeshift rope tied to the end of a kunai. Neya could throw that up near the top of the wall and the two of them would climb over to freedom.

 

Well, that was a plan she could see being plausible. Now it was an unnecessary plan thanks to Utsuho.

 

Speaking of Utsuho, the itsuwaribito had seemed to start behaving a little more like before. However, she was still waiting for the moment he would drop his order on her, most likely when he believed she would be the least suspecting. It caused all the more distress for her as she tried to remain prepared. Utsuho was not a man to be underestimated, Neya had learned that much.

 

Although, for Neya, the bet was not the foremost thought in her mind when it came to Utsuho. Touching a girl may come naturally to him or he's used to it (a vexing thought), but she had never been so intimately held like that before. The memory had, for the most part, been secluded to a corner of her mind while they were busy being escorts, so now, when her mind was free to wander it went back to those dangerously wandering hands. Even Nao had made it a habit to bug her for attention during her daydreams replaying Utsuho's exact facial expression as his lips were mere inches above her own. The entire thing set her heart aflutter.

 

Things were not helped by Iwashi picking up where they left off in choosing lip rouges. When Hikae had told her that Utsuho would like the color, an all-too-hopeful part of her rose up imagining him leaning down and sealing her lips gently with his like she had wanted him so badly to do that night. Reality brought her the cruel reminder that Utsuho could probably care less since he was more interested in eating dango than even giving her a compliment. (Not that she really expected one.)

 

Same old, same old. He probably does not want to bother with things like romance anyway. That didn't mean she liked it, though. As much as she loved him, her patience was beginning to wear. Neya even toyed with the notion of attempting to seduce and win over the platonic genius. Of course, these were just notions she did not take seriously to heart. Unlike Iwashi, Neya was not that bold.

 

**xXx**

 

A familiar fragrance reached Neya, clueing her in to how close they were to their next destination. As much as the sea had trapped and frustrated her for years, she found the smell to be as ever-endearing and pleasant. Something about it was too good to ever hate. There was a semi-steep incline to the path they climbed, and at the top it was as if the world had become painted with another color.

 

The dark blue steadily moving (always moving, never stopping) water glinted from the noon-day sun. The usual light blue sky merged down into the darker liquid blue, and she briefly wondered if the sky was blue because the sea was blue or the other way around?

 

"I had heard the sea was beautiful, but this is greater than what I thought," said Iwashi appreciatively.

 

"The sea is a place of much fascination for humans. Sailors work hard traveling upon vast waters, some devoting their whole lives because they fall in love with it more than they would with a woman," Yakuma said contently.

 

"Stop getting sentimental there, Okaan," Utsuho teased, once again picking on his favorite victim. "No one wants to hear about your doomed unrequited love and how you abandoned it for water."

 

"That's not—!"

 

"Yeah, Isha-kun, leave your depressing thoughts out of this," added Hikae.

 

"Stop teasing him and let's get going!" Neya said, hoping that would end the conversation. Neya felt bad for her doctor friend, but she knew that even if she tried reprimanding them each time it would be ineffective and only serve to tire her out.

 

"Nee-chan, you don't seem all that incensed," Uzume said.

 

"You mean 'impressed'," Chouza put in helpfully.

 

"Well, I lived on an island for several years, so I got pretty used to the sight," she explained as she began going downhill. Yeah, the sight was pretty, just nothing new for her.

 

"When we get into town, I wish to buy a kimono," stated Iwashi.

 

"Eh!? Why!?" whined Uzume. "You'll be covered up then!"

 

"Bad Uzume," said Minamo. It was obvious to Neya that the young girl had a crush on her elder protector and warded him away from other girls. She supposed the reason she did not bother much with Neya was because it was obvious that she loved Utsuho.

 

"Ara, I don't want my skin to be harmed by the sun, of course, Tori-san." Minamo pulled on the boy's sleeve heading down the hill before he could complain anymore.

 

They finally came to the city of Niigata in all its rowdiness and fish-filled streets. Neya and Iwashi led the group along to another part of town where they found a preferable fabric store across from a fried-fish restaurant.

 

Being forcibly led into the establishment, Neya allowed herself to regain her bearings and admire the beautiful kimono and scrolls decorating the place.

 

Iwashi did not waste any time in carefully analyzing the wide selection, though mainly sticking to the already prepared kimono for the sake of time efficiency.

 

Meanwhile giving her brief opinions on the ones the princess chose (she wasn't fashionably inclined as the elder girl, in her opinion), Neya glanced over the others on another side of the shop. Her sight came to one hanging against the wall that she immediately adored. The background color was a rich, dark pink imprinted with white branching cherry blossoms over the left shoulder and up the right hip from the back. It wasn't overly elaborate, yet the scene reminded her of the delicate new beauty of sakura when they first begin to bloom. It had been one of her favorite things to do with the princess of Sakata within the confines of the palace, just watching day by day as the sakura budded a pure white and bloomed, until the petals morphed into the delicate pink that everyone associated hers and the princess' hair with. It was a happier memory she had with her dear friend, one she always cherished.

 

Unfortunately, she did not have the means to buy such a nicely made kimono nor any real reason  _to_  buy it. Her eyes had to be forcefully pried away from the kimono as she tried to divert her attention elsewhere. Her efforts were to little effect, as Neya simply kept returning back to that one in several minutes each time. She barely registered Iwashi still flitting about the store, until a beautiful woman came up to observe the same displayed kimono she was attached to. Neya nearly did a double-take at the image.

 

In her own way, Iwashi was extremely beautiful. It was rare for women to have such short hair willingly, and the princess managed to pull it off magnificently. Add on the less-than-modest wardrobe, Iwashi was a rebel to Japanese values. The other woman, though, was every bit of a Yamato Nadeshiko at first sight. Demure, quiet, polite, graceful in every move she made. Not to mention the long sleek black hair, fair skin, large shining nearly black eyes.

 

"This is a wonderful pattern, would you not agree?" asked the woman.

 

She stared over at the pretty woman beside her. The woman wore a gentle smile as she glanced at Neya beside her.

 

"Yes, it is. Sakura designs are a classic," Neya said in reply, going along with the polite small talk.

 

"I do believe that such lovely hair as yours, it would fit you perfectly. Will you be getting it, if I may ask?"

 

"Thank you and, no, I was just looking. My friend is here to buy a kimono, not me."

 

"Oh? Do the two of you live in Niigata?" asked the woman.

 

"No, we're travelers with some other friends. We plan to ride a ship from the harbor. How about you?"

 

"I, too, travel from place to place occasionally with some of my companions. The ships are our destination as well."

 

"Hmm," Neya hummed unsure if or how she should continue the conversation.

 

"Nee-yan, I'll be going to change in back," Iwashi said, approaching the two of them. The short-haired girl headed off quickly, both Neya and the stranger watching her energetically skip off.

 

"So, what might your name be?" began the stranger.

 

"Neya. And my friend is Iwashi-hime-sama. May I ask what yours is?"

 

"A princess? How amazing! It is not often one meets a traveling princess. My name is Akane. If you'll excuse me Neya-san, but I would like to buy this one, if you are not interested. Do you mind?"

 

"Oh! No, I don't mind at all," Neya said to the woman, Akane. It would be illogical of her to say no especially if she herself was not going to buy it. Besides, the gorgeous fabric would no doubt look wonderful on Akane.

 

"Excuse me," Akane called over to an available shop employee, "I will take this one." A humble-looking woman came over to pull down the kimono from its display. The employee took it over to a counter with some brown wrapping paper and string to expertly fold and package the kimono into a neat little parcel.

 

"It was nice meeting you, Neya-san," Akane handed some coins over to the employee while talking to Neya. "I hope your voyage fares safely. Goodbye." Her body dipped into a 45˚ straight-backed bow to the shop clerk followed by another to Neya.

 

"You as well, Akane-san. Have a good trip," Neya said politely, smiling with a small wave.

 

Behind her, Iwashi came back out donned in an aquamarine kimono with whitish-blue camellias. The princess paid the shop clerk and calmly left the shop with Neya.

 

They found the others finishing up their fried fish at a table.

 

"How is this, Utsuho-sama?" Iwashi asked, twirling around in her new attire. It was a major change for the princess, in Neya's opinion, being so covered and all. She mused on what Utsuho would think.

 

"It looks good," he said, almost dismissively.

 

"If you fall into the water, we won't be able to find you," joked Hikae.

 

"I will try my hardest to make this a good boat ride," Iwashi said in response. Neya always admired her hardworking personality, it even inspired her privately to do well for Utsuho's sake.

 

"Do you two want to eat while we get provisions for the trip?" Yakuma asked.

 

"If it isn't too much of a bother," Neya answered. With that, the boys (and Minamo) left after paying.

 

"It's too bad," I wash spoke up as they waited for their food.

 

"About what?"

 

"That one kimono you kept staring at."

 

Oh…so she  _was_  paying attention to Neya in that time.

 

"Not really. There was no reason to buy it anyway."

 

"Still, that kimono would have been more cherished by you than her."

 

It was just conjecture on Iwashi's part, so Neya did not bother to respond. What was done was done, and she was not going to cry over spilt milk. If there was one goal she had set for herself, it was to not always sit on the sidelines crying and waiting for Utsuho or someone else to help her.

 

The two finished their lunch and waited at the front of the fried fish shop. Nao had already eaten before, contentedly laying on the ground at her side with a belly full of fish. Utsuho and the others came a bit later and they all headed out to the main harbor. To be honest, Neya was not all that familiar with major harbors, so the bustling area filled with ships and sailors was a welcome surprise to her. So unlike to the despair of reaching a beach never knowing when you would be able to get off it again.

 

After finding a worker that had the information they needed to go to Saikaichi, then waiting the two hours for boarding at the blaring horn and call, everyone assembled in a long line to get on. At first, Nao had been skittish about setting foot on the wooden plank, causing Neya to hold the fox with his face tucked into her chest to keep his eyes covered. Thankfully, he was more well-behaved after fully getting on the deck. The princess led them into the shade of some stacked crates, bringing everyone else with her (no one really minded her choice). Neya worried slightly for Chouza, he was rapidly showing signs of sea sickness even hiding behind his sleeves and bangs. Hopefully Yakuma had something to help him out.

 

Patiently they waited for the boat to set sail. The work-hands and sailors were running, yelling, pushing, and pulling through the entire process. When she finally felt the sensation of motion, the view of the harbor gradually became smaller in the growing distance. Vaguely she pondered on where Akane would be headed from Niigata and how she would look in her new kimono.

 

"Neya-san?"

 

Speak of the devil, there she was. How uncanny.

 

"What luck that we would be on the same ship!" With carefully practiced moves, Akane sat down, gesturing to the several other people behind her.

 

"Akane-san, you never mentioned you were heading to Saikaichi. It's good to see you again after such a short time," Neya said, smiling at the kind woman. She was not going to hold an unreasonable grudge on Akane just for having bought the same kimono she liked, the girl seemed really nice after all. Neya could even visualize in her mind Utsuho saying, "So uncool" to such behavior.

 

"Who are your friends, Neya-san?" asked Akane.

 

"Well, you already met Iwashi-hime-sama, then there's Minamo-chan, and little Nao-chan, Chouza-san, Uzume-san, Yakuma-san, Nibyo-san, and Utsuho-san."

 

"'Utsuho'?" Akane stared at Utsuho closely, and Neya grew a little wary in that instant. "Do you perhaps mean Azako Utsuho…from the Village of Orphans?"

 

"Yeah, you know me?" he replied and Neya was just glad that he did not seem to recognize the beautiful woman at first sight.

 

"Oh my—I'm Satsuma Akane! I was adopted from the Village of Orphans about five years ago. My new family was a group of entertainers. Don't you remember? How is Ossho-sama doing?" asked Akane, clearly overjoyed at meeting her fellow orphan.

 

Of course, Neya knew that there would be others like Tenka that got adopted and were spared having to go through the attack from Iriya's band of murderers. However, that did not at all sooth the uneasiness she felt at seeing this old companion of Utsuho's who has undoubtedly become strikingly gorgeous, very much like Kazura from the Village of Dolls. Although, is she were to think about it logically, Utsuho never gave much more concern to people beyond good friendship except for Pochi and that was paternal love.

 

"Gramps died 'bout a year ago," Utsuho said while she contemplated the situation.

 

"Oh no." Yeah, that could be quite a buzz-kill to their reunion.

 

"Don't worry about it…He died smiling."

 

That was summing everything up quite a bit. Utsuho had previously given Neya, Yakuma, Pochi, and Hikae the full circumstances of Ossho's death; in this case, it would be a good half-truth rather than a good lie that he was telling.

 

"I'm so sorry to hear about that, but at least he was happy."

 

"So did you two play together a lot in the village?" asked Yakuma, getting to the point that Neya really wanted to know.

 

Akane's laugh made Neya all the more curious. "When we were still really young, Utsuho played pranks on everyone in the village, and I mean  _everyone_. No child or adult or animal was spared." Yep, sounds like Utsuho. "Well, it wasn't until we were a bit older and around that age where girls think about boys and vice versa that we were each others' first loves."

 

…

 

She truly did not know how to respond to that. Her heart clenched and suddenly anger toward Akane racked her body all while sadness settled in that she wanted to throw at Utsuho.

 

Why?

 

Here was a girl that had once received Utsuho's affections that she herself had been yearning for since practically right after joining up with him. It was near impossible to get the trickster to look in her direction romantically.

 

As Akane giggled next to her, Neya restrained herself from doing anything unseemly by clenching her hands in her lap, sitting still as she further listened to her recounting.

 

"Yes, he would sneak me away somewhere and kiss me. At that age, I would get so flustered over a small peck. But then a family came and wanted to adopt me, and I did not want to give up that opportunity so I went with them." Neya risked glancing at her from the corner of her eye to see she was gazing very longingly at Utsuho, and she knew from that look that this woman still wanted him. "I am so sorry for having left you at such short notice, Utsuho. I really had wanted to stay with you. It's just that I wanted a family even more."

 

Just what would Utsuho say to a declaration like that?

 

"We were kids. I bounced back," he said. It was a given he was lying, since he's Utsuho, but in what way? Did he not care about it (which Neya sincerely hoped was the case) or was he hurt by it and did not want to show how much it had upset him? If it was the latter, then is Akane the reason Utsuho is so unresponsive to hers and Iwashi's presence? This is young Utsuho they were talking about, after all, so Neya would not know if his current disinterest is naturally what he was like or if Akane had emotionally traumatized him.

 

All of the uncertainty was overworking her nerves. If only Utsuho would tell her the truth (and not just a good lie) about his younger days with Akane!

 

"Where are you headed to once you get to Saikaichi, Utsuho?" Akane asked in that excessively pretty and melodic voice. Her intentions were clear as day.

 

…

 

Like hell she would allow the oman to waltz back into Utsuho's life and become his beloved!

 

Iwashi and herself were the ones that stood by Utsuho's side in all the dangers of searching for the Kokonotsu. They had all been through life-and-death situations together and held a strong bond that went beyond childhood crushes.

 

Neya loved Utsuho. She was not about to cave-in to a nostalgic girl with an old crush. Akane could have the kimono but she would  _not_  get Utsuho. The other girl may be extraordinarily pretty and the perfect woman, but she'd show 'Akane-san' the skill of an itsuwaribito.

 

"Kyoto," Neya answered since Utsuho still seemed to be thinking. She directed a friendly smile at her with head held straight, "We're headed to Kyoto, Akane-san."

 

"That's wonderful! So are we. We are going to be at the theaters for a few weeks. What is Neya-san headed there for?"

 

"We're trying to find someone who works there," Yakuma said.

 

"Hmm? What for?"

 

"They have something we would like."

 

Neya ignored everything else that was being said, mentally arranging her game-plan.

 

**xXx**

 

Their temporary companion predictably kept herself attached to Utsuho from that point on. If she was not dragging him away to some secluded corner then she was brushing her hands all over him.

 

However, Neya had long since learned from Iwashi that the real enemy in affairs of love was not the rivals, it was the one you loved. Utsuho's love was the goal and whoever received it was the real "winner". She personally did not like referring to love in terms of winning or losing, but that's what it was.

 

Therefore, she was going to act on the fact that she had previously confessed to him. It was not a secret in their group, even to Utsuho, that she still definitely had feelings for him. First, she had to make him second-guess this established fact enough to take notice of the situation. So while Akane was hanging all over Utsuho, Neya made a point of staying beside Yakuma. She conversed entirely with him, stayed by him, she even made a play of tripping while the boat rocked so Yakuma would catch her.

 

Not once did she mention her plans to Yakuma, though he might have deduced them himself. Or he honestly thought she had no inclination to be near a flirty Akane and was consoling herself by going to the doctor as she usually did. The only times she was not solely devoting her time to Yakuma was when Uzume would come over about the like-like thing again, in which case she would try to settle it as quickly as possible (and it usually turned out that she had to treat him like a naive child for him to really understand, he was just that innocent). The point was that she never tried to interrupt Akane in her attentions, something that Neya had consistently done whenever other girls attempted to get near him with romantic intentions.

 

All in all, throughout the entire trip, Utsuho seemed to have begun watching Neya's movements more closely.

 

His confusion was exactly what she was aiming for.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: There! Twentieth chapter. I can't promise when the next chapter will be out, but I hope to get to it very soon.
> 
> Also, I realized only after writing this chapter that I had unintentionally made a symbolic connection (? If you'd call it that) between the kimono and Utsuho, where Neya wants them and would cherish them more than Akane, who wants them but to a lesser degree.


	21. Utsuho - Next Time, Listen to the Crazy People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utsuho is having trouble with Akane and Neya, and that's just the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I'M SO SORRY!
> 
> I am procrastination.
> 
> Yeah, I don't really have a lot of reasons why I held off on updating for this long. I was planning on starting this a few days ago, though to my defense, I landed a job interview that I was busy (nervously) preparing for that happened yesterday. Once that was over, I felt much more relieved and more than happy to start writing this properly. This turned out a lot longer than I had thought it would, and my pinky is paying the price (remember, I physically write these out before transcribing onto the computer).
> 
> Don't worry, I will have the next chapter of Neya's perspective out really soon, because I already know exactly what I need to write. To anyone who actually was patient enough to read this before immediately starting the chapter after my four-month hiatus, I commend you.

 

The boat ride had been abysmal in Utsuho's opinion.

 

Akane could not have been more clingy and flirty. It was painfully obvious she was gunning for him and, while it would have been slightly flattering under normal circumstances, it was detrimental to his newfound intentions toward Neya. The more he had checked, the more she was near Yakuma, and he did not miss her tripping only to be caught by the gallant, honest, responsible, suave Yakuma. Utsuho should have been the one to catch her and to just keep holding tight so she'll never go anywhere or to any man.

 

Yeah, he had it bad. The possessiveness was fully kicked-in.

 

Little to his relief (greatly to Chouza's), they had landed in Saikaichi. It was not as alive as the previous port, but it was more pleasant. Nao managed to beat everyone off the ship, forcing Neya to rush off too followed by…Yakuma, of course. Chouza managed to get down with Uzume and Minamo's help, then Hikae held out a hand for Iwashi to take gracefully.

 

Utsuho had never been particularly interested in the princess and her goings-on. Now, after having been oblivious to her actions all this time, it seemed she was getting along exceedingly well with their immortal friend. Well, if it kept Hikae entertained, then all the better. Besides, he still cared for her as a friend and wished her to find happiness with someone besides himself.

 

He managed to trudge off the boat behind Akane's troupe with the woman herself nobly standing at his side. There was no shaking her. When they all gathered back together among the throng of disembarking passengers, they all headed to the first shop to ask for directions.

 

The knobby old man at the first stand did not look up from his work of moving fish when they approached.

 

"Excuse me, sir, would you point us to the road that will take us to Kyoto?" Yakuma asked.

 

"Hm," grunted the old man, "on the western side of town is the main road. It'll take ya to the capitol." His hand pointed in the direction they needed as clarification as he eyed the lot of them with wary old eyes. "Just stick to the road and don't go wandering off from it."

 

That piqued Utsuho's interest. "Why?"

 

"Spirits in the mountains, boy! They'll come after you if you trespass on their territory, so don't go through the mountains, follow the road. I pity any poor wretch that wanders into their forests. They get mighty angry." The old man finished his small tirade, settling into his chair to rub his most likely stiff shoulders, only bothering to give them a glance.

 

"Got it, old man!" Utsuho cheerfully chirped, "No going off the road! Thanks for the warning!" He took off through the street with a gleeful stride, compelling the others to hurry after him. He didn't believe in spirits, and the mystery of whatever was there was intriguing. It certainly took his mind away from his personal problems.

 

**xXx**

 

Travel had been smooth for the past several hours and everything seemed perfectly normal to the itsuwaribito (to his disappointment). There was nothing dark or mysterious about the road they traveled along that ran at the foot of the mountain.

 

"It was likely just old folklore in the village," said Yakuma.

 

"Cheh," Utsuho scoffed, bored by the lack of development. He had really wanted to investigate!

 

"I count my blessings from the gods that it is merely a tale," Akane said, clearly relieved.

 

Neya glanced at the entertainer in a friendly manner. "Do you not like spirits or the supernatural, Akane-san?"

 

"None whatsoever! It is too terrifying a thought!" Utsuho could feel the corresponding tug of his sleeve as the girl sought comfort in his presence from her inner musings of ghosts and demons and oni*.

 

"I suppose—" Neya began before she was interrupted.

 

"Waah! Help!!" The meek cries echoed through the forest to them. His first thought was to call back to the voice, and possibly have the chance to investigate those so-called "spirits", but his plans were ruined as Neya dashed into the woods with an agitated Nao.

 

"That was a child's voice!" she called back as if that were explanation enough without stopping. Yakuma was moving out after her just as quickly.

 

"Oi, the villager said we shouldn't go, is it okay for you two to go like that?!" Chouza called to the doctor.

 

"No matter, I need to check just to make sure that if someone is injured, I can help them!"

 

"Wait for me, Nee-chan!" called Uzume, whom also dashed off with what appeared to be some sense of purpose.

 

"Is it okay to let them go like that?" asked Hikae, wearing an innocent yet cheshire-cat smile, as if he was completely unconcerned with what happened.

 

_'Dammit!'_ Utsuho thought. Everyone was acting on their own accord quicker than he could stop them. With the situation as it was, someone had to stay back to protect Akane and her troupe at the same time as making sure the three of them knew where to come back.

 

"I'll go get them back. The rest of you stay here," ordered Utsuho.

 

"Oi, oi, Thread Eyes, we don't take orders from you, don't go thinking you'll be going by yourself. Uzume also ran off. The brat and I are coming, too," demanded Chouza.

 

"Fine, fine, let's just get going," Utsuho said, already hurrying to the forest edge. "I'm counting on you, Hika, to take care of the others!"

 

His sandaled feet dashed forward, followed by the sound of three other sets of footsteps. That briefly confused Utsuho.

 

"Wait, Utsuho!"

 

Utsuho checked over his shoulder at the lagging figure of Akane as she attempted to run in her restrictive kimono. Rather than argue it, he focused all of his attention on catching up to Neya and the other two.

 

Ahead of them, the mountain forest proved vast and thick. The canopy of trees filtered most of the sunlight, significantly dimming their view and causing progress to go slow. As they ran, he and Chouza called out the names of their comrades.

 

"Uzume!"

 

"Nee-chan!!"

 

"Ane-chan!*"

 

"Yakuma!"

 

"Isha!*"

 

"Neya-san!" called out Akane.

 

Yet as much as they yelled, the shouts emptily bounced through the thicket of trees and no reply came back.

 

"Chibikko!*" Minamo nodded her head, understanding the itsuwaribito's bark that was an unspoken request.

 

"Uzume and Neya and the other two are here…yet not here. Minamo does not quite understand."

 

"'Here yet not here'? How did that happen?" wondered Chouza.

 

"Maybe it has to do with what the old man in the village mentioned," Akane spoke up worriedly. "Spirits could have taken them, then…" She did not dare voice her thoughts.

 

"Your companions have entered our territory, that is how."

 

Utsuho's neck whipped to the right where a person (maybe?) stood. He was not quite sure if he could define them as a normal person upon observing his obscure getup. The stranger was dressed in the robes of a Yamabushi* monk with the pom-pommed sash and small black cap. In his hand was a ringed, Buddhist staff, the Shakujo*. Upon his face was a top-half mask depicting an angry, red, twisted expression leading down into an extended upper-half of a sleek, black beak that managed to mostly shadow the lower half of his face. What was most peculiar, though, was the set of black wings attached to the stranger's back.

 

"A tengu-sama*?" Akane ventured uncertainly, voicing the thoughts of everyone there.

 

"Indeed," answered the stranger.

 

"And you're saying the reason we can't find our friends is because of you?" asked Utsuho. He supposed to some degree he could believe tengu exist given the existence of talking tanuki that can transform into others and command people with their given names. That did not mean he was going to allow one to get the better of him.

 

"Indeed."

 

"Any way you can go ahead and let us get them?"

 

The answer this time was not as immediate as the previous two. "Indeed."

 

Utsuho waited in silence, inviting the tengu to explain himself, while his own eyes slid open.

 

"If you are able to win a game against me, I will allow you to meet your companions."

 

"If I lose, then what happens?"

 

"You and the three with you shall be punished for trespassing onto our mountain."

 

"Oh no!" Akane once more hid clinging to Utsuho, though this time in genuine fear.

 

_'Our?'_ thought Utsuho. _'That could mean there are more than just this one, but that is not certain. He could be lying to mislead me into believing he has other allies. I'll have to tread carefully, but I'm still worried about Neya.'_

 

"Do I get to choose the game?" he asked with a kind smile.

 

"No," came the quick reply.

 

"Thought so." His mouth cocked into a more challenging half-smirk, fully seeing this guy as his enemy.

 

The tengu pulled out three simple black ceramic cups from his robe, a bamboo flask*, and a pile of identical square-folded packets (the type that usually held medicine). He set them on a fallen log and sat before it, gesturing Utsuho to sit on the other side.

 

"Here is how the game works. You are not allowed to receive any help from the three people there. I will fill all three of these cups with water. Then, while you are watching, I will pour a single dose of this poison," he held up one of the packets, "into one cup. I will switch the cups around and you must then choose a cup to drink from. You do not have to drain the cup, just a decent sip is acceptable. Then, it will be your turn to place a dose of poison into whichever cup you want, switch them, and I will then have to drink from a cup. The game continues in that manner. First let me explain that though this poison is not lethal without extremely large doses, it still has side-effects. With a sip from one of these cups carrying a single dose, you will begin to feel nausea. With a sip from one of these cups carrying a double dose, you will also become dizzy and your thinking cloudy. Finally, with a sip from one of these cups carrying a triple dose, you will lose consciousness. When that occurs, you lose the game."

 

"How do I know the poison will affect you as well? This may work on humans while being completely useless on tengu. Or you have already built an immunity to it," challenged Utsuho.

 

"You can only take my word, as a guardian of this mountain, that it affects me as well as it will you. Should you refuse to believe me and choose not to partake in the game, we cannot move on and I will be required to punish you." The tengu said it so simply without a hint of uncertainty either way. Chouza began lifting his clawed hands threateningly to prepare for a fight, but Utsuho held his arm in front of the poison-user signaling him to stand down.

 

"Agreed."

 

The tengu uncapped his bamboo flask, proceeding to fill each cup halfway. Utsuho watched carefully as his opponent worked on unfolding one of the packets to empty a tiny amount of white powder into the cup on Utsuho's left, then at a moderate pace, moved the three cups from left, center, right, center, left, etc. It was simple to keep track of the poison cup that ended up in the center.

 

_'Essentially it's a game of keeping track of how much poison is in each cup and not be the first one to drink a cup with three or more doses. All three cups will end up with at least some poison, so it's inevitable both of us will drink some. Add to that the side-effects of the poison, it will become harder to concentrate on which is which and thinking about your next move.'_

 

Internally, Utsuho began his categorizing by identifying the poison cup as cup #1. Then #2 was the one currently on his right, which he chose as the one he would poison on his turn. That left cup #3 on the left as the last un-poisoned cup following his turn.

 

He picked up cup #2 and took a sip and placed it back down, then emptied a packet into it. Utsuho moved his hands steadily and quickly, swapping the positions of the cups at a still followable pace. Now, cup #1 was on the right, cup #2 was in the center, and cup #3 kept its place on the left.

 

The tengu drank from #3 before also poisoning cup #3. He swapped them around, with #1 on the left and #3 on the right.

 

_'Now the real fight begins.'_ Utsuho drank from cup #3, using the logic that it had less time to evenly dissolve the powder after sinking to the bottom than cups #1 and #2. After his drink, the tengu refilled all of the cups to the halfway mark. Utsuho waited patiently, then put the second dose of poison into cup #1. Shuffling the order a bit faster without spilling, Utsuho tried to read his opponent's expressions with no luck due to that bulky mask. The tengu, seemingly undisturbed by his choice, slowly reached out for cup #3 again, allowing time for Utsuho to start feeling his stomach churn uncomfortably. The tengu drank from #3 and then added the second dose to cup #1 followed by his swap.

 

_'Cups #1 and #2 both have two doses, and cup #3 keeps being the choice of drink. I could drink from #3 and add to one of the other two so there would be one of each dosage. He would probably follow by adding to #3 and then I would have to drink one with a double dose. I could then poison one of the double-dose cups, so he would have a 1 in 3 chance of drinking only a double-dosed cup. After that, though, he could make all three of them triple doses, leaving me at a loss. I can't do that. However, he never gave a limit to how many doses we could put in a cup, which means I can put four or more in a single cup. If that's the case, then I want to drink from #3 next (which still only has a single dose), and then put a third dose into #1 or #2. He would drink from #3 again, and likely put it's second dose in. At that point, I would take a drink from #3 or the cup that I did not triple dose on my previous turn, and then put a fourth dose into the same cup as before. One cup would have four doses, and the other two would still have only two. With that, he'll drink from one of the double dose cups and put a third dose into one, leaving it at double, triple, and quadruple dosages. Finally, I drink from the double dose cup and put the third dose into that same cup and he will be left with no other option on his turn but to drink one of two triple-dosed cups or a quadruple.'_

 

Satisfied with his logic, Utsuho drank from cup #3 once more, willing himself to have a stomach of steel. The nausea was becoming slightly inconvenient. He then placed the third dose into cup #1. After his rearrangement, the tengu expectedly drank from #3 again, then placed a second dose into #3. Both #2 and #3 now had double doses and #1 had a triple dose.

 

Utsuho drank from #2, bracing himself for the oncoming dizziness on top of the continuous nausea. He placed the fourth dose into #1 and, with growing difficulty, repositioned the cups. #1 had four, and #2 and #3 still had two just as he had planned.

 

Once more, the tengu drank from #3, then poisoned it the third time. Although his hands did not move as briskly as before, the tengu's movements were still as sure.

 

Presented now with only one real option in the form of the double-dosed #2, Utsuho unsteadily reached out to grab cup #2, somehow managing to aim the lid of the cup at his mouth and letting the toxic liquid slide in. He needed to finish this game in the next move before he could no longer keep track of the concentrations in each cup and the positions. His fingers, bereft of their nimbleness, did their best to open the small (confounding, annoying, damnable!) packet and poured it into the cup he was reasonably sure was #2. With his best attempt at that point, he shuffled the cups.

 

_'Hah! My win, Tengu! Like some non-lethal poison was going to stop me from getting to Neya! And even if you don't agree to help and back out on the deal, I'll shove some more of these damn packets down your throat…rip that stupid mask off your face and pluck your wings clean, or maybe even Chouza…'_

 

As his muddled thoughts of more "punishments" for his opponent tumbled on, said-person picked up cup #1 and drank, which halted Utsuho's thoughts and he saw that the tengu did not show signs of instantly fainting.

 

"Wha—?"

 

"Your…move, intruder," spoke the masked creature, his voice no longer solid and smooth.

 

_'Did I make a mistake?'_ worried Utsuho suddenly. _'I can't even tell if I lost track or if he cheated, but all the cups are supposed to be triple-dosed at this point. Based on his voice, he's not immune to the effects of the poison, meaning if he didn't pass out just now, that was the double-dosed cup #2…it was #2, right? and…I poisoned the wrong cup? Oh, he's pouring poison into the cup he just drank from. Maybe he's toughing it out. The winner of the game is…simply the last person awake. No matter what, we're both ingesting more poison…meaning…it still adds up…no matter what. I just need to drink…drink what? Drink…drink less…Concentrated! That's it! Less concentrated water.'_

 

With that uncertainty resolved, Utsuho tried with what little clarity he still had to keep track of the tengu's similarly disoriented movements. Somehow, that wobbling and shaking and lack of precise motion further confused Utsuho and he was struggling to remember which was the cup the tengu just drank from as well as poisoned.

 

When the shuffle was finished, Utsuho grabbed the right cup and drank.

 

Everything promptly became black.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's After-note: Yay! The little asterisks are back! That means post-chapter explanations! A lot of the new stuff this chapter was actually from Wikipedia, so I will simply give a short description and direct you to the page that has all of that if you are really interested. I had decided a while ago that I wanted to introduce tengu since Itsuwaribito Utsuho allowed tanuki, and for that reason, I fully took advantage of the information on Wikipedia to inspire what I should do with them.
> 
> Tengu: A mountain guardian or spirit, sometimes depicted as a demon, that is an avian-type humanoid (?). There are actually many depictions of a tengu, but the one I used here with the black wings and a mask (most of the time, it is of a long nose, not a beak) and the Buddhist staff like the one Miroku from Inuyasha carried and the robes with those fluffy balls on their chests is the most common depiction. The Wikipedia page of the same name. Explains just about everything.  
> Yamabushi: This is the type of monk that wears these clothes, and the kanji literally means "one who lies in the mountains". They are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. Check out the Wikipedia page of the same name for an explanation.   
> Shakujo: The Buddhist staff that I just mentioned being the same as Miroku's.  
> Bamboo flask: I hope you guys have watched enough anime and read enough manga to know that I am referring to those long cylindrical containers with one portion of the wall of the container coming up above the lip to direct the liquid when you open it (I believe).  
> Oni: These are different from legitimate Japanese demons; they are closer to ogres.
> 
> Ane-chan/Isha: Chouza's method of calling Neya and Yakuma respectively. "Ane-chan" is a cute and more respectful way of saying "Older sister", while "isha" is the Japanese word for "doctor".  
> Chibikko: Utsuho's method of calling Minamo. It is a conjugation of "chibi" which means "small/tiny" and "child".
> 
> I hope you guys were not too confused by the game explanation and Utsuho's thoughts. If you need further explanation, you might want to draw a small chart labeling cups #1, #2, and #3 in three columns along with turns as the rows going down to keep track of who poisoned which and who drank which. That might help…? Also, let me know if I have any spelling errors or anything.
> 
> See ya!


	22. Chapter 22. Neya - Listen to the Crazy People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neya, Uzume, and Yakuma rush into the forest to find what they believe will be a child in distress, but find something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, not much to say. Yeah. Do enjoy.

Neya had to commend her phenomenal patience.

 

She may have made a plan-of-action to leave Utsuho be, but her womanly instincts as a girl-in-love still wanted to peel Akane’s insistent hands from him. Thankfully, she was able to keep her wits about her.

 

Land came in sight. At least Nao would calm down once he was back on solid ground. He had been fidgety for almost all the way, chasing at the heels of the sailors. The fox was able to sense their approaching disembarking from what Neya could tell, for he halted his previous activities to sit quietly at the side closest to land When the boat’s movement stopped and the plank of wood was laid down, the quick little fox was trotting off ahead of everyone else (much to the sailors’ continued annoyance).

 

Neya followed her pet. As much as she loved his free-going personality, she was beginning to worry about her lack of discipline of the fox.

 

Her foot touched on the wooden dock accompanied by the faint brush of fur against her ankle. There was Nao, waiting patiently and loyally for her, his gold eyes staring up at her expectantly.

 

Never mind those things about worrying then. All that was going through her mind was ‘Awww!’ as her heart squeezed. She rewarded her adorable friend a good rub behind the ears. Behind her came Yakuma who was giving medical advice to Chouza as Uzume and Minamo aided him down to the dock.

 

Everyone managed to clear off the boat and meet back up on the docks. It was in silent agreement the group had chosen to ask for directions to Kyoto since there was quite apparently more than one road out of Saikaichi. Their first try was at a fish vendor’s stall manned by a worn, sun-bathed elder.

 

“Excuse me, sir, would you point us to the road that will take us to Kyoto?” Yakuma asked.

 

“Hm,” he grunted, “on the western side of town is the main road. It’ll take ya to the capitol.” His wrinkled hand pointed westward while staring at them cautiously. “Just stick to the road and don’t go wandering off from it.”

 

Several possibilities crossed Neya’s mind as to why he warned them of that. However, she did not need to speak up her question since Utsuho beat her to it.

 

“Why?”

 

That sparked the man’s temper. “Spirits in the mountains, boy! They’ll come after you if you trespass on their territory, so don’t go through the mountains, follow the road. I pity any poor wretch that wanders into their forests. They get mighty angry.” The old man’s speech must have tired him out for he sat down in his chair with a heavy sigh, rubbing his hunched shoulders.

 

“Got it, old man!” Utsuho chirped, ending warning bells in Neya’s mind. She had been traveling with him enough to pick up on his obvious intentions, like going in forbidden places and so on. “No going off the road. Thanks for the warning!” he said as he nearly skipped off.

 

_‘Liar.’_

 

**xXx**

 

Time passed slowly and with little event for several hours. For the most part, Utsuho appeared discouraged by the lack of excitement on the road. Not that she minded much getting lost in thought to plan her next maneuver.

 

It was pitifully unmistakeable to her and all of their normal travel party that Akane was not wooing Utsuho over at all. The girl was hardly qualified to even be called a rival, let along any sort of threat.

 

She should know, she has seen that look disregard on his face toward women before.

 

Which led her to another predicament. If the present Utsuho simply held no interest in affairs of the heart, then there would be nowhere to go after gaining his attention. In other words, Neya had to make him aware of the female population and then strike.

 

How to do that, though…? Recalling the Yoshiwara incident, the girl made note of the fact that the primary “product” there that men were willing to spend so much money on was _that._

 

Her face burned at the prospect. Could Neya seduce Utsuho? Their position on the floor that night in a tangle of kimono and sashes and limbs appeared clear in her mind. Neya’s heart raced and blood rushed to her face.

 

It would be so bold to even consider going any farther than what happened that night! Nor did she even know the first thing about pleasing a man!

 

Her wayward thoughts were fortunately interrupted by Yakuma’s voice. “It was likely just old folklore in the village.”

 

“Cheh,” Utsuho scoffed. Even the slight noise of disappointment caused Neya’s heart to squeeze.

 

“I count my blessings from the gods that it is merely a tale,” Akane said, clearly relieved.

 

Neya understood the older girl’s manner of speaking, being the proper and polite way of saying ‘I’m glad it’s just a tale’ but her voice betrayed an honest fear. “Do you not like spirits or the supernatural, Akane-san?”

 

“None whatsoever! It is too terrifying a thought!” This was accompanied by another moment of clutching Utsuho’s abused black sleeve.

 

Maybe it was best that they kept the truth of their Kokonotsu treasure hunt to themselves. Already, some of the things they have encountered would probably traumatize her.

 

“I suppose—“ she began to say when she heard another voice.

 

“Waah! Help!!” The sound was distant and feeble, yet Neya had lived around children long enough to recognize one’s cry. Her limbs reacted before her mind could have a say in where they were going.

 

“That was a child’s voice!” she called back as though it gave every reason for why she left them at a moment’s notice. Neya barely even noticed as Nao dashed behind her, then two more sets of feet accompanied her.

 

“Where are you?!” she called. The initial cry had not given her a good sense of distance nor exact direction, which left a lot of area to cover.

 

“Neya, I think I heard it come more from over there!” called Yakuma, bringing Neya to slow down enough and watch both Yakuma and Uzume catch up to her. “This way!”

 

Allowing the doctor to take the lead, Neya and Nao resumed running more and more up the mountain.

 

“Oi!” called Uzume. “Where are ya, kid?!”

 

“Answer us and we’ll help you!” yelled Yakuma, searching around them as he jogged. “Are you hurt?!”

 

No response came for any of their calls. They became tired from running uphill and yelling so much so they opted to stop for a moment.

 

“Do you think the child is still all right?” Neya asked, concern eating at her insides.

 

“I don’t know…But we’re not making any progress as it is,” said Yakuma.

 

“Couldn’t we go back to the others and form a search patty?” Uzume suggested.

 

“You mean ‘search party’. That may help. We also did leave suddenly without any real warning, they may have started to worry about us,” Yakuma said.

 

“No, no, no. There is no going back down the mountain now that you are here.”

 

Neya, Yakuma, and Uzume turned to see who had just spoken. Standing on a fallen log stood a person with Yamabushi robes, Shakujo staff, a beak mask, and black wings.

 

“Is that a…tengu?” asked Yakuma. Seems he was still slightly surprised by such things.

 

“A ‘tengoku’? Aren’t they supposed to be bigger and scarier monsters??” asked Uzume.

 

“No, a ‘tengu’,” Neya corrected, “and I wouldn’t really be able to say for sure if all the traditional descriptions are accurate. For all we know, it could be someone dressed as a tengu.”

 

“No, no, no. Humans allow themselves to be so easily deceived. I am as much of a tengu as you will ever see.”

 

Taken aback by the newcomer’s boastful confidence, Neya tried to refocus on the task at hand. Her worry for the child had not abated.

 

“Assuming that you are a tengu, are you the one who made that child we heard cry?” Neya probed, unwilling to back down.

 

The tengu’s head cocked to the side sharply, shaking some of the black feathers bordering his mask. “Are you humans so feeble-minded to hear imaginary children’s cries? I can assure you there are no human younglings upon our mountain. I swear this to you by my word, and a tengu’s word is stronger and truer than any other.”

 

This posed a dilemma upon Neya. Should she really believe this stranger? The sound of the child’s cry was difficult to forget, and from the doubtful expressions on her companions’ faces she knew they were similarly compromised. Nao growled as menacingly as he could manage at the unmoving man.

 

“We will take our leave,” said Yakuma, raising his right hand in a sign of peace.

 

“No, no, no. You won’t.” The flat confidence he spoke with chilled her. His certainty was so great, that she almost took his words for absolute truth.

 

_‘Don’t be silly, Neya. You’re an itsuwaribito and have met numerous liars. It would be folly to not be doubtful. And even if he isn’t lying, there has to be a way around this.’_

 

He continued. “Trespassers must prove themselves in a game to prove themselves. Care to try for it or die now struggling?”

 

“Bring it on!” Uzume shouted defiantly.

 

“Wait, which do you mean?!” shouted Yakuma to their simple-minded friend.

 

“We’ll play your game, tengu,” she interrupted. The quicker they finished there with this unnerving person, the quicker they could move on to finding the child and then rejoining with Utsuho and the others.

 

He seemed to appraise her by directing his beaked mask toward her for several quiet moments. “Yes, yes, very good. I am glad you have decided to participate. Know that the only way you may leave the mountain alive is by winning.”

 

“This I understand,” Neya imperiously stated, placing more bravado in her speech and countenance than she felt inside, “hurry to the game details while I’m still remotely interested.”

 

“Yes, yes. It is quite simple,” he said unfazed by her behavior. “You have three chances to find me. If you find me within those three guesses, you win.”

 

“Find…?” her confusion reflected in Yakuma and Uzume’s faces (although Uzume looked rather excited for the game like a little child).

 

“Aaaannnd start!” he said, vanishing from sight even as he stood before them.

 

“What?!”

 

“He disassembled!”

 

“‘Disappeared’ and he surely has to be around here somewhere, it must be a trick of illusion.” Yakuma calmly assessed his surrounding, combing his eyes through the woods for anything that would give away their opponent.

 

“No, no, no,” came the tengu’s voice from the right by Uzume. The ex-criminal’s sharp instincts forced him to lunge forward before either of them could stop his jointed staff’s swiping blow. The attack was filled with strength and speed and accuracy in the presumed point where the voice came from; however, the resound ‘ _clunk’_ of wood on wood told them it was a miss.

 

“One guess gone, two to go~” teased the disembodied voice. Yakuma held Uzume back from leaping recklessly again. “Humans always think it’s tricks, tricks, tricks. Anything beyond their understanding is surely a lie. You never accept the truth of the world.”

 

“You would be surprised how much we would believe,” Neya said.

 

“Really?” The voice wondered whimsically in front of them and twig snapped behind them.

 

This time Yakuma took the initiative to charge back to the source of the snapped twig sound. His fist met empty air.

 

“Wrong again~ One more guess wrongly given and you won’t ever be leaving the mountain.”

 

Yakuma turned to Neya with a troubled eyes. “Sorry for using one of our chances so mindlessly.”

 

“Don’t worry, Koju! I didn’t even get close!” Uzume cheerfully chirped.

 

“But—“

 

“Uzume-san is right,” Neya interjected. “We just need to figure out his trick…”

 

Her sentence trailed off as she noticed Nao’s growling posture toward her left, his head shifting more to the left as though his invisible enemy were moving behind them, then back again to their front.

 

“What will happen to us if we lose and are never able to leave the mountain?” she asked while glancing wildly in every direction, being sure not to openly follow Nao’s line-of-sight with her own. “I noticed you never specifically said _what_ would happen once we couldn’t leave.”

 

“Hmm, yes, clever human girl,” he cooed, the voice whispered from her back-right, “but I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

 

Neya fingered a kunai at her waist and pulled it smoothly out. “There!” she yelled facing to where the voice last came from as though to throw her kunai there, but then allowed her momentum to follow through farther to the right, farther, farther and releasing to the upper left of the group where Nao was glaring.

 

The ‘ _thunk’_ against the trunk came accompanied by hurried rustling. There on a relatively low branch was the tengu, sprawled to one side and staring at the weapon that embedded itself where he was previously reclining.

 

Slowly the masked face turned to the group. Silence held them tightly in its grasp for that time as he beheld them with some hidden expression.

 

At last he spoke. “You accepted the truth as it is,” he said sagely. “Well done, travelers. You are welcome to our mountain not as trespassers, but as guests.” To this, he stood on his resting branch and bowed gracefully.

 

A collective sigh of relief escaped all three of them. Neya finally patted Nao reassuringly, claiming him from his aggressive state.

 

“Thank you for the welcome, tengu-sama,” Neya said, watching as he leapt from the tree and the black wings spread out as he came down—this shocked her more than anything else had thus far. “We really were searching for a child that we heard while on the path. Now we must find our other companions. We should be taking our leave now.”

 

“If you mean the two groups of humans that entered the forest after you, you would have better luck following me back to my village,” offered the tengu.

 

All of them stared at him curiously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oddly enough, I found my inspiration through Game of Thrones. Let’s see how far I get this round!


	23. Hikae - I Come and Go as I Please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hikae is left with Iwashi as both Neya's group and Utsuho's group run up the mountain. What is he ever to do?

It stood to reason that when Neya rushed off with the other two and then Utsuho rushed after her hot on her trail, Hikae had little interest in hanging around with the other performers and miss all the fun. He was glad, however, that Iwashi had remained behind with him. The perfect-skinned princess was staring off in the way the others went, her eyes widened adorably in surprise.

 

“Care to go after them, Nyan-Nyan?” she asked, her head tilting delicately at him.

 

“And leave you behind by yourself, Hime-san?” He ignored the indignant cries from the other men at being left out.

 

Iwashi’s lips quirked in that smile that she gave, mischief spelled across her mouth. “Of course I would accompany you.”

 

A small stirring nearly brought him to laugh out loud—this human was always so amusing! He shoved his delight down, though, and only allowed a cheeky grin to escape. “Hope you pardon my grip then, Hime-san.”

 

HIkae hooked his arms under Iwashi’s knees and back lifting her into a princess-carry (no pun intended). Her silky smooth skin glided against his hands like strips of heaven, warm and supple. He dashed into the woods with his lovely passenger weighing reassuringly in his grasp. The performers cried out in objection, but he could care less for those mortals; whether they lived or died was no matter to him.

 

The forest grew thicker around them, darkening their pursuit, although that did not affect his tracking abilities nor did he miss the presence approaching them.

 

“Halt, humans that would be so bold and unscrupulous to cross onto our territory! Face a trial of judgement or forfeit your lives!” boomed a boisterous voice. Before them was a robust tengu (having lived for so long allowed him to recognize one on sight) shouting from behind his beaked mask. “Will you parti-“

 

“Out of my way,” Hikae said, claws tearing through the tengu’s flesh.

 

“Ugh—“ grunted the tengu, his knees meeting the fern and moss-covered forest floor.

 

“Are, that was quick, Nyan-Nyan,” commented the princess as they sped by the fresh corpse.

 

“Heh, I just want to hurry up and find Utsuhop-Kun and the others. Don’t you?”

 

“Of course, but maybe he could have told us something about the mountain,” she pondered, glancing at the passing surroundings. “You would think that we would have at least caught up to someone by now with how fast we’re climbing, yet there’s nothing.”

 

The immortal glanced at his fair-skinned passenger who was proving that though beautiful, she was certainly not without brains. If anything, he was the one letting the small bout of bloodlust get to his head and did not even reason out that far ahead. Well, what’s done is done, and he would just have to be a little more level-headed moving forward.

 

“Forget about all of that, Hime-san. I can easily find everyone without a cheat like that,” Hikae said as he scaled a rocky and otherwise dangerous hillside for most people, except him of course.

 

“Nyan-Nyan, you’re just covering for your recklessness.”

 

Hikae internally pouted at her perceptiveness, quickly caught in his lie. He did not favor looking so poorly to the charming human. His composure did not suffer from the blow, yet he had noticeably less spring in his step. A rough misstep on a loose rock jarred his arms, and he checked Iwashi’s reaction to his rough handling of her worried that she would be further peeved by him.

 

The imperious frown that only she could make so beautiful he was expecting did not make an appearance, and instead Hikae was graced with the sight of the princess’s smile unobscured by her fan as she gazed at him. The moment was fleeting as she noticed her own mishap, turning away abruptly and the fan pulled as close as ever to her face.

 

But that moment was all it took for him to sense an irresistible giddiness work its way from his stomach to the rest of his body. His pace picked up with renewed vigor as he held the princess tightly in his arms.

 

An honest and pure smile may very well have broken through his carefully built and iron-walled facade, although he could not quite tell. With Iwashi as his only witness, he would never tell anyone else about the possibility.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in updating and the shortness of the chapter! There wasn't really much to put in this segment with this particular POV without spoiling later content out of order.


	24. Iwashi - Cats Are Troublesome and Cute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iwashi's view of things with Hikae as they chase after their friends.

There was no doubt in Iwashi’s mind that Neya and the doctor would go rushing off to help some child they heard crying in the forest. (Tori-san was not expected, but not necessarily surprising.) Utsuho-sama, Minamon, and Tefu-Tefu (Chouza) followed, as she figured they would. That was just the nature of their little ragtag group, stumbling upon trouble at every turn like that of husbands stumbling into their wives’ tempers. She did not quite favor that Akane girl accompanying Utsuho-sama thus far, nor did she find being left with her troupe members ogling her at all a desirable situation.

 

Iwashi had not had much of a chance to speak with Akane while in the kimono shop, so she could not say much about her personality that did _not_ involve haplessly trying to seduce Utsuho-sama. Aside from that, the girl did not suit Utsuho-sama, and this was not simply her being defensive of her desired husband-to-be; rather, Iwashi loves love rivals and fully encourages Neya to pursue her affections as strongly as they burn. To Iwashi, love rivals not only reaffirm the worth of the one being sought, they also bring out the true strength of emotions and passion from each rival and that is truly beautiful beyond any material item.

 

However, Iwashi did not fell any of this honestly from Akane. It appeared to her that the trouper sought Utsuho-sama for her own vanity mores than for any true feelings of love. The girl’s motives were empty and selfish, reaching out for someone to confirm that Akane herself was a woman worthy of praise and adoration from a man as incredible as Utsuho-sama. The whole thing stank to her, and having to bear witness to the girl’s advances forced the princess to avert her eyes from its ugliness. The boat ride had been quite the debacle.

 

So, putting all that aside for the moment, it was her duty as Neya’s friend and one whom loved Utsuho-sama to go after them, and she fortunately still had one very reliable friend to take with her.

 

“Care to go after them, Nyan-Nyan?”

 

“And leave you behind by yourself, Hime-san?” he replied, utterly ignoring the complaints of the remaining troupers. She would have to banish the thought of him ever taking a step without her, smiling at the imaginary scene of her plying at the immortal’s arm to physically stop him from leaving without her.

 

“Of course I would accompany you.” Her tone was nonchalant, barely veiling the order that he not leave her behind.

 

His usual cheeky grin was followed by his polite, “Hope you pardon my grip then, Hime-san.”

 

Her companion her into his arms with more grace than she believed a man ought to possess. The catlike man’s bone and muscle was solid, not at all soft and smooth like hers or Neya’s arms, and yet they did not ever discomfort her when he carried her so. It was as though he automatically knew the perfect position for her body so that the harder corners and edges of his body did not intrude her being. Even dashing along as they were now, the ride was hardly jarring.

 

As they passed farther into the forest, Iwashi marveled at how implicitly she had come to trust this itsuwaribito, despite his bloody and violent tendencies. They were already well into the thick of the mountain’s forest, yet she feared nothing as long as the reassuring presence with her remained.

 

“Halt, humans that would be so bold and unscrupulous to cross onto our territory! Face a trial of judgement or forfeit your lives!” resonated a lively, deep, masculine voice from up ahead. She saw a man? that bore a mask with a long nose much like the ones depicted in legends concerning tengu, and black-feathered wings on his back? It was difficult to discern much with Hikae still running. “Will you parti-“

 

“Out of my way,” said Hikae as his claws appeared and slashed through the man. It was done before Iwashi could make heads or tails of what was happening.

 

“Ugh—“ came from the unfortunate victim. She was curious about what he had spoken of before and felt slightly miffed that she could not find out now that death had surely claimed him.

 

“Are, that was quick, Nyan-Nyan,” she said dismissively.

 

“Heh, I just want to hurry up and find Utsuho-kun and the others. Don’t you?”

 

“Of course, but maybe he could have told us something about the mountain,” she said, thinking about how he had referred to it as ‘our territory’. “You would think that we would have at least caught up to someone by now with how fast we’re climbing, yet there’s nothing.” Hikae gave her a look, examining her with something akin to a glint in his eye. It was so confounding to her that she had the overwhelming need to cover her face to hide just how flustered she was.

 

“Forget about all of that, Hime-san. I can easily find everyone without a cheat like that.”

 

The excuse in his defense was easily seen through, yet she was still fazed by his stare that anything he said incited the same jubilant and flustered reaction from her. It made her want to tease him as payback. “Nyan-Nyan, you’re just covering for your recklessness.” 

 

Silence reigned as Hikae stared straight ahead. The logical part of her said that he could care less about what she could ever say while her womanly intuition hinted that her words were gaining power over him and that he was put-out by her insincere insult. Either way, she was still giddily smiling and observing his face, a new hobby of hers she discovered had developed as of late.

 

A slip on a rock and being bounced in his arms knocked her fan away from her face and exposing her to his quickly drawn eyes. Heat came to her cheeks trifold and she securely covered most of her face from his view. His gaze burned her for whatever reason unbeknownst to her. Her gut screamed at her that it was forbidden to allow this man the apprehend and reveal that she occasionally glanced at him; even though there was no basis for it really, it felt like she would be defeated if he did find out. So, she quietly kept to herself for the rest of the ride until they at last came across something.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, another one so soon. I had three chapters written that I held off on because of laziness.
> 
> Also: Awww, Iwashi's flustered!


	25. Utsuho - Feverish Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utsuho awakens from his poisoning with a bit of a fever.

Dryness as rough as sand in his throat and mouth woke Utsuho. His entire face burned uncomfortably and his body was so cold and shivering, instantly forcing him to snuggle into whatever was keeping him warm despite his aching limbs. he was waking up enough to notice a blanket was tucked over him and there was a heat source to his left. Utsuho’s fogged mind crept further into clarity, wondering what could be such a large and warm thing as well as being so immobile. A person, perhaps?

 

The itsuwaribito was beginning to recall the game with the tengu on the mountain. Chouza and Minamo and Akane were with him at that time…no, the person beside him did not feel like either one of the first two. He internally groaned thinking about Akane clinging to him again. His eyes blearily opened, dim candlelight burning his retinas.

 

“Looks like you’re finally awake, Utsuho-kun. Thank goodness, I was starting to worry,” sighed a feminine voice in relief. He stared into large, reddish-brown eyes framed by soft cherry-blossom colored hair. If his face were not already undoubtedly red, Utsuho would be blushing outrageously. “Are you feeling any better?”

 

“Wha— how did you get here? Did you lose, too?!” Utsuho asked, now comprehending that they must be in the tengu’s stronghold. Worry burrowed in his chest for the girl more than his own current state, no, probably compounded by his current state; even though he was there with her when she got into danger again, Utsuho could barely help her bedridden. He lifted his head to swivel his gaze to the rest of the room, expecting to find all of the others sans Hikae and Iwashi. Dizziness washed over him without any one of their companions in the room. No luck setting up an escape plan with the others then. Neya’s hand cupped his face and gently brought it back down to his pillow.

 

“Calm down, Utsuho-kun. Yakuma-san told me you cannot be moving about immediately,” Neya said softly. “We passed our trial, so the tengu invited us as guest to their home. The one we met mentioned that we would be able to find you and the others in their custody.”

 

“You passed, huh? Good job, Neya,” he said, proud of her yet ashamed of himself for his own failed trial and subsequent saving by the person he sought to save. “Were you able to find the child?” he asked, remembering the cause of all this.

 

Neya, for her part, had gone from surprised and blushing (maybe? as long as his fever was not messing with his vision) to downcast. “No, we searched the mountain a bit more before coming here and even asked the tengu and they said they had not come across a child in the woods fro months now.”

 

“That certainly seems odd given that they immediately picked up on our trespassing. Someone may very well be lying to you.”

 

“Never mind that for now,” Neya said. “You need to focus on recovering from your fever. Here’s some water,” she put a small teapot with its spout to his lips, tilting the cool water into his mouth and relieving some of the dryness.

 

However, a new dryness took hold as his companion shifted against the length of his body. Her lithe and supple figure was wreaking havoc on his insides and he could not help to notice the front of her thighs against his hip, the gentle and shapely curves of her breasts settled on his shoulder, and his left hand when he moved it brushing between her knees and next to the edges of those little black shorts she wore.

 

“Sorry!” he said, attempting to pull his hand away from such a dangerously tempting place.

 

“Whatever for, Utsuho-kun? It’s just a brush of skin between friends,” Neya purred. Was it the fever just now or did she just transform into a sultry seductress? A delicate hand rested on his chest without a care in the world. He felt it more keenly with his undershirt being the only barrier between their skin. “Rest well, Utsuho-kun. You should be warm enough now even without me.” Neya smirked at his prone form as she slid out of his reach, much to his disappointment as arousal shot through him emphasized by the sensual shifting she did when withdrawing her warmth from the length of his body. He sorely missed the contact of her body upon his…

 

Just like that, Utsuho was abandoned to watch his feminine caretaker—and mental torturer—saunter out through the sliding door. He was left with nothing to do but sleep, where his treacherous mind quickly went about dreaming of Neya in sweet, pleasurable ways. Most of this revolved around a continuation of his “treatment”.

 

_Silky kimono sleeves dragged deliciously along his chest downward, where it ached so horribly. His body was too clothed, too covered in blankets and not covered enough by Neya. A solitary finger alighted on his hip bone drawing little circles over the fabric._

 

_His breathing hitched. Above him, he met with molten reddish-brown eyes, half-lidded and pupils dilated. A teasing smirk danced on her lips looking as though she were to devour him, and Utsuho was completely at her mercy. He hoped she devoured him. Bound breasts pressed into him intimately as she held his gaze while that mischievous finger roamed closer to his groin, now pained and hard against his hakama._

 

_“You appear troubled, Utsuho-kun?” Dream Neya purred into his ear, breathy words sending lust down his spine. “Flesh touching flesh should not matter between friends.” Real Neya’s words echoed in his dream, as tauntingly as the first, fanning his lustful imagination hotter._

 

_He found himself answering in his mind what he wished he had said. “No, not just friends, Neya. Us touching_ **_would_ ** _matter.”_

 

_“Really, Utsuho-kun? After all, you did completely ignore my confession that day,” she said seriously._

 

_His reply was lodged in his throat. True regret pressed upon him, and he wondered what would have been had he answered her that day after dealing with the puppet master. He could have said “yes” but would he have been ready? Likely not. And if he said “no”, it would have estranged them terribly and allowed her to move on from him. “Neya—“_

 

_“Hush, Utsuho,” she said, dropping the suffix affectionately. Dream Neya’s face was more serious than it had ever appeared. The hurt he saw in her no doubt reflected the hurt Real Neya endured because of his callous indecision. “Now, where were we?” her expression returned to seductive in the blink of an eye, the moment seemingly never having occurred._

 

_The hand that lingered on his hakama sprang back to life with a mission. Fingers slipped under the rim of his pants, stroking his skin into a hotter fever than his waking self suffered. The subtle sharpness of fingernails scratched rivers of sensation upon his member in that member, his hips jerking up and fox-slanted eyes wide open and intense upon the succubus of his making. Utsuho’s great was labored, he couldn’t get enough air despite his best efforts to pump his lungs as hard as possible._

 

_Dream Neya smirked down at him and licked her bottom lip. The moist shine there incited other images in Utsuho’s perverted mind and Dream Neya’s ministrations grew bolder in turn. Full palm and fingers enclosed upon him delightfully, finally drawing a groan from his throat._

 

_“Good boy, Utsuho-kun,” Dream Neya cooed. She was so pleased with his reactions that she sat further up and began to use her other hand to tug at her simon down her shoulders._

 

_His dreams always began to undress Neya from the shoulders, but it never lessened how beautiful he found them. However, his Dream Neya never really showed him more than that and a bit of leg. He certainly hoped with Real Neya’s actions that that would finally change._

 

_Sufficiently exposed from the neckline up, Dream Neya stopped her undressing to his dismay. Instead, she reached for his nearest hand and brought it up to her chest. Her hand helped cup his over her breast in its entirety. Soft yet firm, warm in his hand, a hardened nipple pressed into his palm. The itsuwaribito’s usually deft hands paused to take in the feeling, adjust to it. A small squeeze, then another. It was only through her kimono and bindings, but he could hardly believe he was allowed to go this far._

 

_His and her ministrations intensified, although Utsuho appeared to be the only one affected by it at all. Through his pleasurable haze, he though of giving her the same pleasure she granted him. Taking control of the dream, Utsuho removed his hand from her breast—albeit regretfully—and halted her hand’s movements on his member, pulling it free. Dream Neya looked at him puzzlingly._

 

_“What—?”_

 

_Utsuho sat up, now looking down at her cherry-blossom hair, wide-eyes, and worried lips. He held her hands, carefully and preciously. “Neya…” Lust and passion put aside, Utsuho beheld her as she truly was to him and him alone: a gentle light of compassionate beauty, a soul drawn to his own through odd twists of chance—he did not subscribe to the belief of “fate”—feeding his spirit kindness and love he had never known and unknowingly needed. How could it have taken him so long to properly appreciate such emotions, such intangible gifts given from the early days of their companionship? How could he express these new findings of his heart?_

 

_The breadth of space between them begged to be closed, so he acquiesced to his gut instinct and leaned forward. Dream Neya no longer bore a single shred of the seductress she had been playing earlier; the innocence and guile returned to her visage, perplexity scrunching her eyebrows. Closer and closer his face inclined toward hers._

 

“Utsuho.”

 

His eyes blearily opened a second time that day, if the day was the same which he felt it was, still in the same room Neya had left him in except she was absent with Yakuma in her place.

 

“How are you feeling? I wanted to give you some medicine before going to meet with our hosts,” said the doctor.

 

This time, he easily recalled what his situation was. “Meeting with the tengu, huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it? I added in the last part with the dream and meeting bit in the past couple of days. Kudos to those who see more than just a shameless excuse to be slightly smutty and then cheat out on it. There was actual meaning to what occurred in Utsuho’s dream.


End file.
